7 ms·

“Loss of smell” Google search now trending in West Virginia, Nebraska, Nevada

112 points by vinnyglennon 6y ago

jka 6y ago
This trend is even more striking (and perhaps more convincing and verifiable) when you extrapolate it out over a longer time scale: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=%22loss%20of%20smell%22 https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=%22loss%20... Edit: just to temper this a bit; trends can be misleading and I'm not stating that this query is a robust indicator. It'd be great to figure out how reliable these charts are.
- bentcorner 6y ago
  So.. what's going on in Nigeria? https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=NG&q=%22loss%20of%20smell%22 https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=NG&q=%22loss%20...
  - SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
    Exactly what that trend suggests, most likely. Nigeria has 245k (!!) tuberculosis deaths a year, so it's entirely plausible IMO that they could fail to notice an uncontrolled epidemic of a different pneumonia-causing disease.
    - bobthepanda 6y ago
      Interestingly enough, Japan is chalking up success in containment of COVID to its contact tracing system originally developed for TB: https://asiatimes.com/2020/06/japans-contact-tracing-method-is-old-but-gold/ https://asiatimes.com/2020/06/japans-contact-tracing-method-...
      - ashtonkem 6y ago
        Not surprising, TB is also a respiratory disease with a long dormancy period. While the details are slightly different (latent TB patients apparently aren’t infectious), one would expect a TB tracing program to be roughly correct for any other respiratory disease. I’m sure the SARS and bird flu outbreaks have given regional governments an opportunity to consider how to prepare as well.
        zamalek 6y ago
        TB has proven to be a great practice run for COVID. Southern African countries have not messed about with it. I still remember just how strict things became even with minor outbreaks. For something like a decade, Zimbabwe has required Foot and Mouth Disease control at borders - long after the risk has passed. I was temperature screened in an airport sometime in the early 2010s in South Africa for a domestic flight. My friends back there can't leave their home 95% of the time, they can't buy smokes, they can't buy beer. African countries are experts at this, and the comparison to America is depressing (including my own idiotic behavior).
        perl4ever 6y ago
        The figures I see on the internet for testing in most African countries are not very high. It's become a talking point that more tests produce more cases; couldn't you argue the inverse - fewer tests produce fewer cases? It appears about 3200 tests per million are reported for all of Africa, compared to say Spain at ~110,000 or the US at around 96,000.
        zamalek 6y ago
        Absolutely, maybe I'm wrong. My experience has just been that Africa deeply respects the power of a pathogen.
        perl4ever 6y ago
        Among the top 20 countries with the most new cases at the moment, other than South Africa, Russia, and the US, they seem to all be developing countries outside Africa. So if African countries in general have had a good response, I wonder why it's spreading so rapidly in countries like India, Mexico, Chile, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Peru, Colombia, Iran, etc...do they not respect the power of a pathogen?
    - travmatt 6y ago
      They also have a very young population, which may mean they have more asymptotic/mild cases.
  - albntomat0 6y ago
    Loss of smell has been reported in their news, and apparently was trending on Twitter among Nigerians. "Public health physician, Dr Doyin Odubanjo, has reacted to the growing complaints of loss of smell and taste by Nigerians on Twitter, which has since triggered Coronavirus scare." https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/399665-nigerian-govt-identifies-loss-of-smell-taste-senses-as-covid-19-symptoms.html https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/399665-nigerian... http://saharareporters.com/2020/06/16/growing-complaints-loss-smell-taste-nigerians-trigger-coronavirus-scare-expert-reacts http://saharareporters.com/2020/06/16/growing-complaints-los...
- xenospn 6y ago
  Is it possible a few local newspapers ran the same headline recently?
  - jka 6y ago
    It's certainly possible, yep - anything leading to increased searches for exactly that phrase. Can you think of any related phrases to look for and/or ways to check the trend? (nothing is springing to mind here yet)
- m463 6y ago
  I searched for loss of smell early on when they were saying that was a symptom. I didn't have a loss of smell (although women in my life seem to have a markedly better sense of smell... and taste and common sense)
albntomat0 6y ago
The posted URL is of a tweet with an image of google trends data. Here is a link to the actual website, which allows filtering by time, region, etc: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%201-m&geo=US&q=%22loss%20of%20smell%22 https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%201-m&ge...
Zaheer 6y ago
Apologies for being ignorant - what's the context here?
- mistersquid 6y ago
  Loss of smell is a signal symptom of COVID-19.
  - chrisseaton 6y ago
    > signal symptom What's the difference between a 'signal symptom' and a normal 'symptom'? Aren't all symptoms signals?
    - pstuart 6y ago
      Likely s/signal/single/
      - lisper 6y ago
        Nope, a signal symptom is a thing: https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/signal+symptom https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/signal+symp... "A symptom that is premonitory of an impending condition such as the aura that precedes an attack of epilepsy or migraine."
        sdinsn 6y ago
        By that definition, loss of smell is not a signal symptom for COVID.
        pstuart 6y ago
        I stand corrected.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - ravar 6y ago
wolfgang42 6y ago
I get that loss of smell is a symptom of COVID-19, but what’s so special about 1 AM?
- stuntkite 6y ago
  When I had the bug in March my symptoms would be sparse during the day and suddenly get worse from 1AM to 6AM. Similar for my partner. Cough would ramp up, cold sweats, fever, and my throat would turn into a sun bleached garden hose full of glitter. We both also had a loss of smell but it wasn’t the primary symptom that bothered us. Anecdotal, but possibly related.
  - tsomctl 6y ago
    Huh. I was the exact opposite; there was no schedule for my symptoms. Some days I woke up great, and was exhausted by noon, other days I woke up feeling terrible, and had tons of energy in the afternoon.
    - stuntkite 6y ago
      My partner and I both work kind of an inverted schedule so it could be our body clocks. I’d bet the searches just have more to do with laying in bed quietly freaking out into google.
  - istorical 6y ago
    I noticed cough popped up (when it did, because it didn't often) when I was going to sleep or first thing when I woke up. Low-grade fever randomly on and off during afternoon or evenings. Loss of taste/smell the duration of a few weeks. Random diarrhea throughout. Loss of smell wasn't one of the more noticeable symptoms but it persisted for far longer and when smell suddenly 'turned on' and I could all of a sudden smell cinnamon when I sprinkled it onto morning oatmeal the smell seemed insanely noticeable due to its long absence.
jshaqaw 6y ago
Loss of smell was mainly how I suspected I had a Covid - later confirmed with an antibody test. Stay safe people.
- defqon 6y ago
  What was your experience like?
  - jshaqaw 6y ago
    Very minor. Aside from loss of smell for a month my wife and I had no significant symptoms. I felt pretty exhausted but those weeks in NYC were so crazy that it’s hard to say what was Covid and what was ambient stress. My kids had positive antibody tests but never had symptoms. We were very fortunate.
    - redis_mlc 6y ago
      Just FYI: In NorCal there was no "crazy" or ambient stress, unless one overreacted to the headlines. Very calm here.
      - jshaqaw 6y ago
        If you were managing the conversion of an entire elementary and junior high school to remote learning on the fly in the midst of a pandemic while you and your spouse had said pandemic while overseeing the mental health of your children while also dealing with parents who had Covid at the same time you might have seen your stress level tick up but I’m glad you live such a chill and unencumbered lifestyle.
        redis_mlc 6y ago
        Thanks, in SV most if not all companies were ready for remote ops. Schools are in a tough spot because the in-school computer experience wasn't great to start with.
      - 6y ago
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
rladd 6y ago
This search may be better: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=now%201-d&geo=US&q=cant%20smell https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=now%201-d&geo=... Shows Texas, Arizona and Florida as the most hits.

112 points by vinnyglennon 6y ago

jka 6y ago

This trend is even more striking (and perhaps more convincing and verifiable) when you extrapolate it out over a longer time scale: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=%22loss%20of%20smell%22 https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=%22loss%20... Edit: just to temper this a bit; trends can be misleading and I'm not stating that this query is a robust indicator. It'd be great to figure out how reliable these charts are.

bentcorner 6y ago
So.. what's going on in Nigeria? https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=NG&q=%22loss%20of%20smell%22 https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=NG&q=%22loss%20...
- SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
  Exactly what that trend suggests, most likely. Nigeria has 245k (!!) tuberculosis deaths a year, so it's entirely plausible IMO that they could fail to notice an uncontrolled epidemic of a different pneumonia-causing disease.
  - bobthepanda 6y ago
    Interestingly enough, Japan is chalking up success in containment of COVID to its contact tracing system originally developed for TB: https://asiatimes.com/2020/06/japans-contact-tracing-method-is-old-but-gold/ https://asiatimes.com/2020/06/japans-contact-tracing-method-...
    - ashtonkem 6y ago
      Not surprising, TB is also a respiratory disease with a long dormancy period. While the details are slightly different (latent TB patients apparently aren’t infectious), one would expect a TB tracing program to be roughly correct for any other respiratory disease. I’m sure the SARS and bird flu outbreaks have given regional governments an opportunity to consider how to prepare as well.
      - zamalek 6y ago
        TB has proven to be a great practice run for COVID. Southern African countries have not messed about with it. I still remember just how strict things became even with minor outbreaks. For something like a decade, Zimbabwe has required Foot and Mouth Disease control at borders - long after the risk has passed. I was temperature screened in an airport sometime in the early 2010s in South Africa for a domestic flight. My friends back there can't leave their home 95% of the time, they can't buy smokes, they can't buy beer. African countries are experts at this, and the comparison to America is depressing (including my own idiotic behavior).
        perl4ever 6y ago
        The figures I see on the internet for testing in most African countries are not very high. It's become a talking point that more tests produce more cases; couldn't you argue the inverse - fewer tests produce fewer cases? It appears about 3200 tests per million are reported for all of Africa, compared to say Spain at ~110,000 or the US at around 96,000.
        zamalek 6y ago
        Absolutely, maybe I'm wrong. My experience has just been that Africa deeply respects the power of a pathogen.
        perl4ever 6y ago
        Among the top 20 countries with the most new cases at the moment, other than South Africa, Russia, and the US, they seem to all be developing countries outside Africa. So if African countries in general have had a good response, I wonder why it's spreading so rapidly in countries like India, Mexico, Chile, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Peru, Colombia, Iran, etc...do they not respect the power of a pathogen?
  - travmatt 6y ago
    They also have a very young population, which may mean they have more asymptotic/mild cases.
- albntomat0 6y ago
  Loss of smell has been reported in their news, and apparently was trending on Twitter among Nigerians. "Public health physician, Dr Doyin Odubanjo, has reacted to the growing complaints of loss of smell and taste by Nigerians on Twitter, which has since triggered Coronavirus scare." https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/399665-nigerian-govt-identifies-loss-of-smell-taste-senses-as-covid-19-symptoms.html https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/399665-nigerian... http://saharareporters.com/2020/06/16/growing-complaints-loss-smell-taste-nigerians-trigger-coronavirus-scare-expert-reacts http://saharareporters.com/2020/06/16/growing-complaints-los...
xenospn 6y ago
Is it possible a few local newspapers ran the same headline recently?
- jka 6y ago
  It's certainly possible, yep - anything leading to increased searches for exactly that phrase. Can you think of any related phrases to look for and/or ways to check the trend? (nothing is springing to mind here yet)
m463 6y ago
I searched for loss of smell early on when they were saying that was a symptom. I didn't have a loss of smell (although women in my life seem to have a markedly better sense of smell... and taste and common sense)

albntomat0 6y ago

The posted URL is of a tweet with an image of google trends data. Here is a link to the actual website, which allows filtering by time, region, etc: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%201-m&geo=US&q=%22loss%20of%20smell%22 https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%201-m&ge...

Zaheer 6y ago

Apologies for being ignorant - what's the context here?

mistersquid 6y ago
Loss of smell is a signal symptom of COVID-19.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  > signal symptom What's the difference between a 'signal symptom' and a normal 'symptom'? Aren't all symptoms signals?
  - pstuart 6y ago
    Likely s/signal/single/
    - lisper 6y ago
      Nope, a signal symptom is a thing: https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/signal+symptom https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/signal+symp... "A symptom that is premonitory of an impending condition such as the aura that precedes an attack of epilepsy or migraine."
      - sdinsn 6y ago
        By that definition, loss of smell is not a signal symptom for COVID.
      - pstuart 6y ago
        I stand corrected.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - ravar 6y ago

wolfgang42 6y ago

I get that loss of smell is a symptom of COVID-19, but what’s so special about 1 AM?

stuntkite 6y ago
When I had the bug in March my symptoms would be sparse during the day and suddenly get worse from 1AM to 6AM. Similar for my partner. Cough would ramp up, cold sweats, fever, and my throat would turn into a sun bleached garden hose full of glitter. We both also had a loss of smell but it wasn’t the primary symptom that bothered us. Anecdotal, but possibly related.
- tsomctl 6y ago
  Huh. I was the exact opposite; there was no schedule for my symptoms. Some days I woke up great, and was exhausted by noon, other days I woke up feeling terrible, and had tons of energy in the afternoon.
  - stuntkite 6y ago
    My partner and I both work kind of an inverted schedule so it could be our body clocks. I’d bet the searches just have more to do with laying in bed quietly freaking out into google.
- istorical 6y ago
  I noticed cough popped up (when it did, because it didn't often) when I was going to sleep or first thing when I woke up. Low-grade fever randomly on and off during afternoon or evenings. Loss of taste/smell the duration of a few weeks. Random diarrhea throughout. Loss of smell wasn't one of the more noticeable symptoms but it persisted for far longer and when smell suddenly 'turned on' and I could all of a sudden smell cinnamon when I sprinkled it onto morning oatmeal the smell seemed insanely noticeable due to its long absence.

jshaqaw 6y ago

Loss of smell was mainly how I suspected I had a Covid - later confirmed with an antibody test. Stay safe people.

defqon 6y ago
What was your experience like?
- jshaqaw 6y ago
  Very minor. Aside from loss of smell for a month my wife and I had no significant symptoms. I felt pretty exhausted but those weeks in NYC were so crazy that it’s hard to say what was Covid and what was ambient stress. My kids had positive antibody tests but never had symptoms. We were very fortunate.
  - redis_mlc 6y ago
    Just FYI: In NorCal there was no "crazy" or ambient stress, unless one overreacted to the headlines. Very calm here.
    - jshaqaw 6y ago
      If you were managing the conversion of an entire elementary and junior high school to remote learning on the fly in the midst of a pandemic while you and your spouse had said pandemic while overseeing the mental health of your children while also dealing with parents who had Covid at the same time you might have seen your stress level tick up but I’m glad you live such a chill and unencumbered lifestyle.
      - redis_mlc 6y ago
        Thanks, in SV most if not all companies were ready for remote ops. Schools are in a tough spot because the in-school computer experience wasn't great to start with.
    - 6y ago

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

rladd 6y ago

This search may be better: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=now%201-d&geo=US&q=cant%20smell https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=now%201-d&geo=... Shows Texas, Arizona and Florida as the most hits.