Fever, dry cough, and tiredness are the most common symptoms of the novel coronavirus. But a lot remains about the long-term effects of the virus on our bodies. For instance, a recent study found that some COVID-19 recovered patients’ brains may age by 10 years.
As per a report in Times Now, while the loss of taste is a less common symptom of coronavirus, it has nevertheless been reported by millions of patients who tested positive worldwide. For some patients, the taste loss symptom could be very extreme, even if it is short-lived. And this is what a man from the US wanted to highlight through his videos.
Russel Donnelly was recently diagnosed with COVID-19, and started suffering from intense taste loss. During his isolation period, he filmed himself eating raw and pungent food back-to-back without feeling anything in his mouth. Check it out:
He starts the video by saying, “I am currently Covid-positive and I can’t taste anything. Everyone keeps telling me to try and eat some nasty stuff but I don’t have any nasty stuff in my house, so I figured I’d just eat some stuff that would be strong or pungent, just to see what it’s like.” He first peels a raw red onion and proceeds to take a big bite out of it.
The very next moment, he gulps down a lemon juice shot, and then a spoonful of garlic paste. After still not feeling any taste in his mouth he says, “Nothing. This is a crazy virus.”
He later stated, “The onion I could feel a little bit in the sinuses, but mostly nothing. Garlic paste was the easiest. I did lemon juice a couple of times actually, and if I hold it in my mouth for an extended period of time, my mouth kinda shrivels up like it does when you taste something sour, but there is no flavor.”
He also took to Instagram to post other follow-up videos conducting similar taste tests with other food, like oreo with wasabi. He mentions that he can feel it in his stomach, but still no sensation in the mouth. Check the videos out below:
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Despite the light-hearted nature of his videos, it is a good reminder to take COVID-19 seriously, especially with the surge of rising cases all over the world.