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I don't agree that people shouldn't quarantine if they lose their sense of smell/taste.
In the absence of widespread testing any decision to self-isolate is made with the knowledge that it may well not be COVID-19, but it could be.
OK, this study is based on self-reporting. But as 59% who said they were COVID-19 positive reported loss of smell and taste, and these results were much stronger in predicting a positive COVID-19 diagnosis than self-reported fever, the only sensible thing to do if you do have anosmia/hyposmia is to self-isolate, surely?
Fox-
I don't agree that people shouldn't quarantine if they lose their sense of smell/taste.
Even if that's the only symptom? Not even King's are suggesting that:-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-52111606
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The King's researchers say loss of smell and taste might be useful extra symptoms to watch for, perhaps not on their own but alongside other important ones like cough and fever.Lead researcher Prof Tim Spector said: "When combined with other symptoms, people with loss of smell and taste appear to be three times more likely to have contracted Covid-19 according to our data, and should therefore self-isolate for seven days to reduce the spread of the disease."
"If you should quarantine if you have cough/fever anyway then anosmia/hyposmia is irrelevant as it doesn't change the decision and no-one (Kings, ENT UK, WHO, PHE) suggest quarantining yourself if anosmia/hyposmia is your only symptom. "Experts say there's not enough evidence yet."
I can see why journo's would like it, it makes a good headline/soundbite, but there doesn't seem to be anything to back it up.
Greenbank
Yes, but still not enough evidence that anosmia/hyposmia is a reliable signal that people should start to quarantine. There's no info about the symptom timeline. I hope King's are able to pull some useful info out of the data they have.