most common illnesses that we are familiar with have a pretty recognizable set of characteristics. We all know that when you get the common cold, you have any combination of coughing, sneezing, sniffling, runny nose. etc.
When a person gets shingles they get a skin rash
When a person gets a sinus infection, they get a reaction in their sinus cavities that makes it obvious.

So, what’s the deal with Covid?
There are god knows how many reported symptoms. Two people can be suffering from the same virus, but one could be vomiting and diarrhea-ing, while the other is hacking up a lung. The only common thread seems to be the loss of taste and smell.
It is my understanding that this must have something to do with the way the virus interacts with the cells of the host and so it is dependent on genetics. But that brings up the root question I have, which is, why does Covid seem to be so unusual? The coronaviruses that float around that cause the common cold aren’t like this, are they?
Was SARS like this?
are there, roughly speaking, “tiers” of viruses and Covid happens to be a more complex virus than what most of us have contracted before?

Also, as a side question, do we know yet what the taste and smell symptom even is yet? Is this neurological, like it’s attacking the part of the brain responsible for those functions? Or is it still entirely respiratory?

I’m not a doctor, so if I said anything silly of made false assumptions, it’s not on purpose