SARS CoV-2 infection causes lung damage that can be severe enough to require artificial ventilation. Clinicians taking care of these patients are surprised by the scant respiratory sensations and emotional responses described by patients. This attenuation of respiratory interoception deprives clinicians of the usual warning signs during respiratory decompensation of dyspnea and its aggravation. It may be the result of central nerve damage. This hypothesis is bolstered by the observation that within the multiple clinical forms of COVID-19 infection there are some "neurological" forms (headache, anosmia, agueusia, dizziness, without respiratory signs and with little or no fever), that are most likely the consequence of olfactory penetration of the virus into the central nervous system (mechanism described for SARS CoV-1).
