The other day I posted a review about a Yankee Candle I’d bought having no smell.

Today I read this..!

Yankee Candle reviews predict surge in Covid cases
Scientists find customers leave poor ratings for the scented product at times when Covid cases rise as people suffer from a loss of smell
By
Joe Pinkstone,
SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT
10 October 2022 • 2:17pm
Reviews of scented candles can act as a “heads up” for a spike in Covid cases, scientists believe.

A surge in unusual one-star reviews of Yankee Candles, from customers who claim their product has no scent, is likely driven by people unknowingly suffering from Covid-induced anosmia, the loss of sense of smell and taste.

The trend was first spotted around Christmas of 2020 and again in winter last year.

Now, with festive candles being added to more shopping baskets as autumn draws in, customers are once again venting their displeasure online.

Dr Nicholas Beauchamp, an assistant professor in political science at Northeastern University in Massachusetts, analysed almost 10,000 Amazon reviews of four best-selling Yankee products between 2018 and 2021.

Dr Beauchamp established a clear link between Yankee Candle bad reviews and Covid cases, writing a paper published earlier this year and presented at the Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media.

He said he used Yankee reviews because digital traces of Covid are elusive due to “the infrequency of discussions of smell online”.

I think I must have had Covid. No idea I did… but I definitely can’t smell the candle as I used to.
Well I never. 😳