If smell was ignored before, off in the hinterlands, you could say that Covid put it on the map. But studying smell, scientist after scientist told me, had already reshaped the way they thought about the world and their place in it. They went, they said, from thinking of smell as a “bonus sense” to a dominant one, and “from a secondary sense to one of the primary things that influences our life.” The geography had shifted even as they were working to chart it.
— That's the last paragraph of a very long article about the Covid pandemic and olfaction, written by Brooke Jarvis, who has anosmia. Even if, like me, you feel you've now read enough on the subject of Covid-related loss of smell, you might want to read this one (or listen to the 55 minute audio recording). See What Can Covid-19 Teach Us About the Mysteries of Smell? The virus’s strangest symptom has opened new doors to understanding our most neglected sense. at The New York Times. Hat tip to Kevin!
Great article!
It’s really thorough…I need to go back and read it again more carefully.