Among wine professionals affected by Covid-19, 68% have lost their sense of smell and 56% have lost their taste. Their representatives want anosmia to be recognized as a disabling disease.
- Recovery was complete for 61% of wine professionals affected by Covid-19
- But their olfactory and taste disorders affected their professional life in 38% of cases
It is a profession where taste and smell play an essential role. Among wine professionals affected by Covid-19, 68% have lost their sense of smell and 56% have lost their taste, according to a new survey by the Union of Oenologists of France. It was “essential to know the reality of the problems linked to the pathologies of taste and smell among wine professionals in order to better take care of them, treat them and control the professional consequences”, explains Didier Fages, president of the association.
Recovery was complete for 61% of wine professionals affected by Covid-19, but their olfactory and taste disorders affected their professional life in 38% of cases. So far, women oenologists have been slightly more affected than men by the pandemic: 4% of women surveyed have contracted Covid-19, compared to only 2% of men; 54% of contaminated professionals have lost their sense of smell, compared to 46% of their male counterparts; 55% of them have lost their taste, compared to 52% of oenologists.
Six measures to help wine professionals
On the basis of this quantified diagnosis, the Union of Oenologists has drawn up an action plan, in liaison with its scientific committee and the national union of ENT doctors. Six measures are priorities for them:
1. recognition of smell and taste disorders as a disabling disease for wine professionals;
2. enhanced health and provident insurance for all oenologists, and in particular for the self-employed, hitherto less protected;
3. request for priority vaccination of wine professionals (after vaccination of the most vulnerable people);
4. recommendation to all oenologists to consult an ENT doctor to prevent, diagnose and treat;
5. mobilization of the Union of Oenologists of France with an emergency union number and an “interim” platform to put in place replacement solutions;
6. launch of a national research program on disorders of smell and taste via the endowment fund of the Oenologists of France.
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