Brooke Baldwin Says Sense Of Smell Is Returning In Optimistic Coronavirus Update

CNN’s Brooke Baldwin shared an optimistic update on her remaining COVID-19 symptoms on Monday, a week and a half after announcing she had tested positive for the coronavirus.

“I THINK I’VE NEARLY BATTLED THIS BEAST,” she wrote in a lengthy Instagram post. “I snapped this shot of myself on Easter Sunday to mark the first day (on Day 10) in which I started feeling shades of myself.”

To celebrate her turn for the better, the “CNN Newsroom With Brooke Baldwin” anchor said that, although she obviously didn’t break her quarantine and leave the house, she donned “actual sneakers and sunglasses to remember what it feels like to actually go OUT, as in leave my apartment, as in feel normal.”

Her remaining symptoms, she said, were primarily those of a head cold and a light cough, although she was still sleeping 10 hours a night. She also noted her anosmia, a symptom that has been anecdotally reported as a peculiar side effect of the illness, was finally starting to abate.

“I still can’t fully taste or smell… but I caught just the slightest whiff of peppermint in my tea this morning. #progress My appetite has been small… toast, soup, tea… for the day.”

She highlighted an analogy she’d heard from a friend as an accurate descriptor of the experience: “It just felt like their bodies were at the last rinse of a wash cycle. Like in a washing machine going hard fighting this thing. But then it stopped and they felt like clean clothes.” Y’all, I think I’m just a *few days away* from that full feeling.”

Last week, Baldwin shared her roller-coaster ordeal battling the virus, saying she couldn’t smell or taste any food, had high fevers and chills, and kept deteriorating after thinking she had improved.

She was the second CNN anchor to announce a coronavirus infection. At the end of March, “Cuomo Prime Time” anchor Chris Cuomo announced he had tested positive, and he has shared regular updates on his health while broadcasting from the basement of his home, where he has been quarantined.