There’s no real evidence to believe that the difference between COVID-19 and other coronaviruses is anything other than a matter of magnitude/degrees (more infectious, more lethal, more resistant) rather than “super mysterious disease with never-before-seen implications.” There is a huge incentive to try to find and publish studies suggesting otherwise, but take them with considerable skepticism.
This study was very well done, the people on the study very well regarded in the field; I believe the results. That they found the most shrinkage in olfactory regions is consistent with one of the most common symptoms.
As for whether this is a matter of degree rather than kind, there frankly have not been enough studies done of pre-post illness, and there should be. I know that depression is common in cases of severe pneumonia, and maybe there is a loss of gray matter in those cases too.
I was actually saying the same thing. I too read that study and was not trying to knock it. My point though was that if we study any of the other conditions this closely, we might see the same things - so it doesn’t make me believe that we’ll see too much novelty in the fallout from COVID because people succumb to then recover from the cold and flu all the time, they’re just not as heavily scrutinized.
