April 20, 2023 – Imani Ibrahim, a 33-year-old Chicago-based clinical social worker, became ill in January 2020. “I was very sick for a few days with flu-like symptoms. At that point, COVID-19 had not yet become a big outbreak, and I didn’t know what I had,” she said.
Two months later, she went to a conference just as “COVID became more of a media presence.” About a week later, Ibrahim began sensing a “nonstop, consistent smell of cigarette smoke,” although she was not a smoker and didn’t live with smokers. The odor lasted for a few weeks and became so overwhelming…
