Post-COVID-19, some patients struggle to regain senses of smell and taste Losing the sense of smell can be more than a mere inconvenience and some patients embark on olfactory rehab. By JOHN LEICESTERAssociated Press Share Dr. Clair Vandersteen, right, wafts a tube of odors under the nose of a patient, Gabriella Forgione, during tests in a hospital in Nice, southern France, this month to help determine why she has been unable to smell or taste since she contracted COVID-19 in November 2020. John Leicester/Associated Press NICE, France — The doctor slid a miniature camera into the patient’s right nostril, making her whole nose glow red with its bright miniature light.