CASP3 and COVID-19: In COVID-19 convalescents with persistent anosmia, inflammation (as marked by infiltration of Iba1-positive myeloid cells), increased apoptosis (as marked by cleaved caspase 3-positive cells), and presence of SARS-CoV-2 (as marked by the viral nucleoprotein) could still be detected in the OE, but not in the RE, 6 months after the initial infection [23].