Coronavirus Watch: How COVID messes with your senses

Loss of smell and taste was a distinguishing feature of early COVID-19. But as different variants became dominant, less and less people lost their sense of smell after being infected.

Now, scientists are starting to figure out why and what that means going forward.

Read more from reporter Karen Weintraub here.

It's Monday, and this is Coronavirus Watch from the Paste BN Network. Here's more news to start the week:

• Hong Kong's government announced the end of a two-year stop on non-residents flying into the city as its outbreak of virus cases diminishes.
• A recent CDC study found that unvaccinated children were hospitalized twice as much as their vaccinated peers during the omicron wave. 
• China is facing the largest COVID-19 outbreak since 2020, and residents in Shanghai have not been able to leave their homes or buy groceries for weeks. Learn more here. 

See our COVID-19 resource guide here. See total reported cases and deaths here. On vaccinations: About 77% of people in the U.S. have received at least one vaccine shot, and about 66% are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

– Cady Stanton, Paste BN Nation NOW reporter, @cady_stanton