Also, my mother died of covid before it "hit the news" in the US. The US was actually the last country to admit it was real. Millions had already died by March 2020 when the pandemic was declared. Unless before covid you mean before 2019 when it entered the world that we know off. Did your lack of smell begin in 2018? That's most likely before covid. Many in the US were really very sick in dec 2019 and jan 2020. Prior to covid, lack of smell was either normal for you or a loud onset would be a brain insult, tumor etc?