Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread in more than 200 countries, infecting almost 2,000,000 patients to date and causing the Coronavirus [2] (COVID-19) pandemic. There are recent reports indicating that COVID-19 patients commonly manifest olfactory and gustatory dysfunction even in the absence of rhinorrhea or nasal obstruction [1–4]. These preliminary observations are based on olfactory and gustatory questionnaires completed by patients and self-reported symptoms that are inherent to reporting bias and other limitations including reproducibility and validity. In addition, these reports included patients with minor COVID-19 symptoms and low-risk factor burden. In view of these considerations, we conducted a pilot case-control study using objective assessment of olfactory function with a standardized microencapsulated odor identification test.