Topline:
Long COVID has an extensive list of symptoms, including fatigue and difficulty concentrating. Those symptoms can crop up months after an infection, and more than 1 in 10 adults who had COVID have had symptoms for at least a year. That finding comes from a new collaborative study by several universities and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Who was surveyed? The study involved more than 1,700 participants across the country who were tested for COVID and then asked about their symptoms every three months.
What did researchers find? Symptoms lasted for at least a year for about 16% of the COVID-positive people in the study, but for others, symptoms came and went. We still don’t know why some people develop long COVID while others don't, but genetics may play a role.
The backstory: Long COVID only affects a small percentage of people who are infected with SARS-CoV-2, but the scope of the pandemic means that many millions of people are suffering. Roughly 25 million people in the U.S. and over 17 million people in Europe have long COVID symptoms, with many more in other parts of the world.