COVID-18: Making For A Bland 2022

By Jonathan Penna

        In the last month of 2019, a new development in Wuhan, China set the stage to make the beginning of the new decade an interesting one. A cluster of patients suffering from an atypical illness did not respond well to standard treatments. Public health officials in China identified a novel coronavirus as the catalyst for the outbreak. Within the first month of the new year, two cases of SARS-CoV-2 are confirmed in the US. The virus spread quickly, and on March 11, 2020, the WHO declared COVID-18 a pandemic with over 118,000 cases in 114 countries and 4,291 deaths.

        Within the next few weeks, the Trump administration declared a nationwide emergency, issued travel bans, and states begin to shut down schools and nonessential businesses. Pharmaceutical and biotech companies begin human trials of a vaccine to protect against COVID-18. For the entire year, all vaccine trials were unsuccessful while new cases and death rates increased exponentially. By the first several months of 2021, vaccine trials began to show positive results but all had one side effect in common: the loss of taste. Scientists and health officials alike both examined the research and saw that loss of taste was already a symptom of COVID-18, so they figured a better vaccine was possible. Vaccines were still being tested, all the while, the previous test subjects reported that they still were not able to taste. After another several months of unsuccessful trials with all vaccine recipients losing taste, officials come to the conclusion that a vaccine is impossible without the side effect of losing taste. However, nobody could confirm how long this side effect would last. Still, governments urged their people to get vaccinated, despite knowing the side effects.

        By 2022, businesses, schools, and life begins opening up back to normal. Most people are vaccinated and have some degree of taste loss. The early vaccine recipients are still being watched and it seems their sense of taste has gotten worse over time. This news worries the scientists and they are told to keep this information confidential until they learn more. Skip a few months and these patients have now completely lost their sense of taste. Information becomes public that the vaccines are highly likely to cause a permanent loss of taste as far as research has shown. There is public outcry about the lack of transparency and honesty about the side effects of the vaccine, being only told that loss of taste is a side effect and not permanent. The government was unable to offer financial compensation, nor the companies, because of how many people actually received the vaccine. Interestingly, the companies were still allowed to keep the vaccine available, now offering potential patients more accurate knowledge about the side effects.

        Instead of offering individual compensation, the government directed funding toward research companies to develop a type of cure or way to recover the sense of taste. Committed funds that would be allocated to this endeavor totaled over $5 billion. This nationwide issue–global, even–became a top priority for the US to recover its citizen’s loss of taste. But still, with 2022 coming to a close, there has been little to no progress despite worldwide cooperation. Researchers tried to convince the government for continued funding, only to be heard by unconfident, weary ears, and hope for a solution fading.

        The vaccine played a very interesting role in consumer purchases. Restaurant sales declined dramatically, with many being forced to close. Fast food sales also declined, but not as drastically, likely due to them continuing to be an inexpensive meal option. Sweetened beverage sales have become very rare, with seltzer and water sales skyrocketing. Most Americans who received the vaccine have reported losing weight and feeling healthier. Important to note also, some have reported a lack of a desire to eat, leading to an underweight and malnutrition problem in some. Multivitamins have become popular among Americans, and new food products all focus advertising on textures and complete nutritional content. Ultimately, the vaccine has served a good purpose in allowing Americans to eat healthier without the temptation of tasty, unhealthy foods; however, malnutrition, mental health, and the lack of a desire to eat are problems that officials are monitoring closely as they have the potential to become an even bigger issue.