March 15, 2024 – Long COVID symptoms have gotten more common amongst Americans.
According to the CDC, 6.8% of Americans recently reported having long COVID symptoms and 17.6% reported having had long COVID in some unspecified time in the future, in line with the newest federal health agency study Household Pulse Survey.
The 6.8% is a rise from October survey results, during which 5.3% of respondents reported experiencing long COVID symptoms. Since November 2022, the survey has not shown a high percentage of individuals experiencing long COVID symptoms.
Health experts said the rising long-term COVID numbers are concerning.
“This should raise alarm bells for a lot of people,” said David Putrino, PhD, the Nash family director of the Cohen Center for Recovery From Complex Chronic Illness at Mount Sinai The guard. “We’re actually seeing the problems occur more quickly than I expected.”
Dave Daigle, a spokesman for the CDC, told the outlet that the “estimates represent only a snapshot in time,” making it difficult to discover things like recent surges, vaccination rates, latest variants and survey methods.
The survey also showed regional differences. The highest long-term COVID rates have been reported in North Dakota, Kentucky, West Virginia, Alaska and Maine. The lowest rates were reported in Hawaii, Pennsylvania and Wyoming.
The most up-to-date household pulse survey between January 9 and February 5 asked people whether their COVID-19 symptoms lasted three months or longer.
Scientists haven't been in a position to work out what causes long COVID, during which disease symptoms persist for months or years after recovery. Extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, lack of sense of smell and muscle pain are amongst probably the most common symptoms.
The latest survey comes about 4 years after the World Health Organization declared COVID a world pandemic and two weeks after the CDC updated its COVID isolation guidelines. The old CDC guidelines said individuals with COVID should stay home for five days, while the updated guidelines recommend staying home for no less than 24 hours after symptoms subside.