Most early data was pointing to damaged receptors/cells in the nose/nerve endings in the nose. It's been a wild ride for me. There's a whole range that are just...gone. A lot of spices, fruits, body care products, ect I'm just absolutely blind to. Some things I'm basically blind to it unless I just jam my nose in there. Instead of being able to smell when I open a fresh can of coffee beans, I now have to take the can and stick my nose in there and it's so faint that it's basically an essence of coffee. There's a lot of things that fall in this range. And once I take a big whiff of it, I basically burn out whatever that smell is and it's gone for hours/days. Can't pick it back up. There's a couple weird things I consistently smell. I'm ultra sensitive to seafood now. To the point I almost can't go into the meat counter in a lot of grocery stores. I get about 40 feet from it and it's like someone took 3 day old shrimp that sat out in the sun and stuck it under my nose. Same thing with some artificial flavors. Artificial strawberry and watermelon are very strong. I also was at an artisan market that had essential oils and there was a vanilla scent there that sent my entire body tingling. It was so bizarre.
My sense of smell was by far my "best" sense before Covid. I could identify a wide range of bourbons by their nose, could recreate dishes based on seasoning between taste and smell, and now that's all gone. It feels silly to be depressed over it, but it really is a very significant change in quality of life. Not just for me, but also my family. My wife has anxiety in cooking/planning meals because I don't crave anything any more. I used to be a micro-meal eater. I'd space out 3-5 small snacks throughout the day and a modest, nice dinner. Now I can go an entire day and unless my stomach starts churning from raw hunger, I just don't eat. I crave nothing. Very little food is satisfying. I can't taste sweet or salty. I can sort of pick up richness in ice cream but most other flavors going on there are muted. There's absolutely no point in my spending money at a fancy restaurant or a number of cultural cuisines that rely on herbs/aromas to balance out the flavors. I used to love Thai food, but now I can't pick up cilantro or basil well. Same with green onions and peanuts. It's all just gone.