California megachurch pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship has yet to regain his sense of smell after he contracted COVID-19 in October.
In a recent interview with The Christian Post, Laurie explained that despite having a mild case of the virus and experiencing only mild symptoms, he has yet to regain his sense of smell.
“I had a mild case of COVID. The symptoms were not very strong. I had fatigue and slight congestion and a fever that lasted only for a short time, and the fatigue [carried on] a little bit longer,” Laurie said.
At the time of the diagnosis, Laurie had previously attended the White House nomination ceremony for now-Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett last September. Other high-profile names in attendance, including former President Trump and his wife Melania, also tested positive.
Despite recovering from COVID-19, Laurie says his sense of smell has not recovered.
“I got over that actually quite a long time ago, but the one lingering effect that I still have to this day is that I’ve lost my sense of smell, and I’ve not regained it again,” he noted. “You miss out on a lot when you can’t taste the flavor of food. So I’m hoping that will return to me, but I’m doing fine, and I feel really good.”
According to a Baylor College of Medicine report, some people recovering from COVID-19 have reported a prolonged loss of smell. Assistant professor of otolaryngology at Baylor University, Dr. Sunthosh Sivam, noted in the report that current research shows that the SARS-CoV-2 virus can bind to receptors in the nose that control one’s sense of smell.
“In most cases, smell loss is temporary, but it can take months or even years to recover,” Dr. Tran Locke, another assistant professor of otolaryngology at Baylor, said in a statement. “If you have any type of smell at all, it’s a sign that your olfactory nerve is still working.”
Locke also noted that one could lose their sense of taste after losing their sense of smell since both senses are closely linked.
Aside from recovering from COVID-19, Laurie pointed out that his church has also “slowly been rebuilding” after resorting to remote worship services during the pandemic.
“A lot of people have been staying home from church even after we reopened, but we’ve been growing steadily each week,” he shared. “We’ve been having services indoors and outdoors now at our campuses in Riverside and Orange County, as well as on the island of Maui,” Laurie continued. “Hopefully, we’ll see some friends that haven’t visited for a while, back at church again.”
Laurie has also written a new book, Billy Graham: The Man I Knew, which is set to release next Tuesday. In the book, Laurie paints a human portrait of the late evangelist, as he was close friends with Graham for over 30 years and served on Graham’s board of directors for more than 25 years.
“A man like Billy Graham doesn’t come around every day. He was uniquely chosen by God to reach multiple generations,” he told The Christian Post. “I’m thankful that I had the privilege of knowing him. But when it’s all said and done, he was a man like anyone else. He put his pants on one leg at a time. He was thankful to the Lord for being called, and he was faithful to the end.”
Photo courtesy: ©Greg Laurie Facebook
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer. He is also the co-hosts of the For Your Soul podcast, which seeks to equip the church with biblical truth and sound doctrine Visit his blog Blessed Are The Forgiven.
