Smell and taste changes are early indicators of the COVID-19 pandemic and political decision effectiveness.

ABSTRACT: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many governments have taken drastic measures to avoid an overflow of intensive care units. Accurate metrics of disease spread are critical for the reopening strategies. Here, we show that self-reports of smell/taste changes are more closely associated with hospital overload and are earlier markers of the spread of infection of SARS-CoV-2 than current governmental indicators. We also report a decrease in self-reports of new onset smell/taste changes as early as 5 days after lockdown enforcement. Cross-country comparisons demonstrate that countries that adopted the most stringent lockdown measures had faster declines in new reports of smell/taste changes following lockdown than a country that adopted less stringent lockdown measures. We propose that an i

SUBMITTER: Pierron D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7560893 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature