[estaseuropano]

There are hundreds of similar diseases, in particular in the set of flu strains that are endemic. These can hit you hard with very similar symptoms.

[makoto12]

maybe you're right. but loss of taste and smell. sick for 2 weeks and symptoms that persisted for 6+ months, obviously can't prove anything, but everything was suspiciously similar to covid. So it doesn't surprise me to see covid being found in dec 2019 samples in europe

[pergadad]

I cannot claim any special expertise on this but the CDC lists loss of taste and smell as a common symptom of flu and covid.

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/symptoms/flu-vs-covid19.htm

[makoto12]

"Change in or loss of taste or smell, although this is more frequent with COVID-19."

ya didn't know this, thanks for the link

[dekhn]

Yes, i used to lose my sense of smell once or twice a year during a sickness well before covid.