Originally Posted by
the other bob wilson
Can you book one of the tests to see if you've had it as well?
Five weeks ago, I noticed that my sense of smell was weaker and that a lot of the food I ate had I slight tang to it. I thought of booking a test, but was influenced by a radio interview I heard saying that it was only a complete loss of those senses which was a possible symptom of Covid and by the time I realised this was wrong, it was well past the five days from when symptoms first develop period they talk about for the test to be effective.
I've read the NHS guidance which says that people who live by themselves who self isolate can come out of it if the only symptoms they're still showing is a loss of smell/taste and/or a cough (apparently these symptoms can linger for weeks after the virus). I've always got a cough and my sense of smell has, if anything, got worse over the past five weeks (my sense of taste is better than it was, but still not quite right), but my GP told me that if it was COVID that affected my senses I must have had a very mild dose of it and it's more likely it's something else which can be investigated when things get back to something like normal - she told me not to be concerned about affecting other people with Covid or that I may still develop serious symptoms, if that was going to happen it would have done so weeks ago.
So, although there's no point being tested to see if I have it now, it might be worth finding out if I have had it in the past.