I had nasal reconstruction surgery back in the 80s. At the time they put a nose pack in to provide support for bones knitting and general healing. Obviously this eliminated my sense of smell. I found that the majority of my taste sensation disappeared. Food of all kinds was flat and pretty tasteless. Just all texture. At the first doctor visit post surgery I asked my doc about it. He confirmed that the vast majority of our sense of taste originates in our sense of smell. Go figure. Hopefully for the Whoo Hoo Flu victims it is a temporary loss.
You are correct that our sense of taste originates in our sense of smell. Experiments have shown when people’s noses are blocked. The person is given an onion and an apple and people can’t tell the difference. Permanently losing your sense of smell would really suck.