I'm sure everyone has. But here is the real question:

In the past, when you had a cold or mild flu, was your sense of smell or taste normal as it usually is, or was it off (couldn't smell or taste the same)?

I honestly can't say one way or the other. I never thought about my sense of smell or taste when I had a cold. I just felt bad and dealt with it. I do know that I tasted cough syrup that tasted bad, but I don't remember ever smelling it. I don't specifically remember if my normal sense of smell was working or not, or my taste.

The reason I ask is that I am wondering about all the people who got "sick with Covid" and said their sense of taste or smell was gone.

Is this the way it USUALLY (or ALWAYS) is when one has a cold or flu? Or is this really abnormal and not what usually happens?

IOW: Is it possible that everyone reporting a loss of taste/smell is because the MEDIA bombarded us with that message, and so we paid attention (maybe for the first time ever) and noticed? Was it just a subliminal message that people were responding to?

Do we usually lose our sense of smell or taste, but this time we noticed because the media kept pushing that message?