This post is part of a new blog series focusing on long COVID. See part 2.
After nearly six years of living with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, everyone knows about COVID-19. However, public awareness of long COVID – the long-term consequences of COVID-19 – is often lacking. This post will help address this issue, serving as an introduction to long COVID and setting the stage for the rest of the blog series. Without further ado, here are seven things everyone should know about long COVID.
1. Long COVID is a complex spectrum of symptoms and conditions resulting from COVID-19.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) define long COVID as “an infection-associated chronic condition (IACC) that occurs after SARS-CoV-2 infection and is present for at least 3 months as a continuous, relapsing and remitting, or progressive disease state that affects one or more organ systems.”1 This definition is purposefully broad, as long COVID is a spectrum that includes over 200 symptoms and health conditions that impact numerous bodily functions. These symptoms/conditions vary widely in severity, and they may last anywhere from a few months to several years. Personally, I have been sick with long COVID since December of 2020.
2. Long COVID can impact anyone who has contracted COVID-19.
The SARS-CoV-2 virus does not discriminate; anyone who has contracted COVID-19 can develop long COVID, regardless of demographic (age, race, health status, social class, etc.).1 Moreover, you can develop long COVID after any COVID-19 infection. This includes severe, mild, and asymptomatic infections, as well as reinfections. Even if you had COVID-19 once (or multiple times) and fully recovered, you remain at risk for long COVID, as disease risk increases with each reinfection.2
While anyone with a history of COVID-19 can develop long COVID, it should also be noted that some groups are at greater risk for the disease than others (e.g., women compared to men).3-5 For more information on long COVID demographic disparities, check out references 3, 4, and 5.
3. Long COVID is not rare.
With long COVID able to affect anyone who has contracted COVID-19, it is not a rare condition. Globally, it is estimated that 35.0% of adults with a history of COVID-19 have ever experienced long COVID.4 Prevalence estimates are also high for the United States, with 29.8% of adult COVID-19 survivors having ever experienced long COVID. When considering the total U.S. adult population, including individuals with no known history of COVID-19, 17.9% of adults – nearly one in five – have ever experienced long COVID.5 For perspective, the prevalence rate for adult diabetes is 14.7% in the United States,6 significantly lower than the estimated prevalence rates for long COVID.
4. Long COVID is a major cause of chronic illness and disability.
With long COVID impacting so many people,4,5 it is a major cause of chronic illness and disability. While the severity of the condition varies greatly, many long-haulers develop debilitating health problems. Long COVID often causes such severe fatigue that it leaves patients housebound or bedridden, making it difficult to work and carry out everyday tasks.7 The condition can be disabling in many other ways as well, as it frequently involves organ damage caused by acute COVID-19 (WHN has a compelling article suggesting an expansion of the long COVID definition to specifically include organ damage).8 Due to long COVID, there are an estimated 2.1 million additional adults with disabilities in the United States alone.9
5. Long COVID prevalence is likely increasing.
The prevalence of long COVID appears to be increasing. Among U.S. adults, disease prevalence increased by 3.9% between June 2022 and September 2024 – the last time the U.S. Household Pulse Survey collected data on long COVID4 – and there is reason to believe that this trend has continued into 2025. After all, more people are infected and reinfected with COVID-19 each day.10 Additionally, long-haulers who have been sick for several years are often not recovering,11 limiting reductions in the overall prevalence rate for the condition. My long COVID specialist at Stanford told me that only four of his multi-year patients have fully recovered.
6. Long COVID is poorly understood, with no approved treatments.
Long COVID remains a poorly understood condition. We do not fully understand the specific underlying mechanisms of the disease, and consequently, we often do not know how to treat it (there are many theories,12,13 but they will not be discussed in this introductory post). There are no FDA-approved treatments for long COVID, and although some medications have been used off-label or experimentally, there is no single treatment that works for the entire spectrum of long-haulers. This lack of treatment options further adds to the burden of the disease, with many patients struggling with unmanaged symptoms. More research is needed on long COVID, both to better understand the condition and to identify potential treatments.
7. The only way to prevent long COVID is to prevent COVID-19.
There is only one guaranteed way to prevent long COVID: preventing COVID-19. As emphasized previously, anyone who has contracted COVID-19 can develop long COVID. Immunization against COVID-19 is a great way to prevent severe acute illness and death, but it will not necessarily prevent infection altogether,14 leaving even vaccinated individuals at risk for long COVID. To be clear, this is not a condemnation against COVID-19 vaccination; I fully support any preventive measure that helps reduce COVID-19 cases (i.e., vaccination and masking), even if it is not 100% effective. Now, you have to make your own choices in regard to prevention, but let this serve as a warning – if you contract COVID-19, you are at risk for long COVID. And although we cannot change the past, we can do better to prevent COVID-19 and long COVID moving forward.
References
1. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. A long COVID definition: a chronic, systemic disease state with profound consequences. Published 2024. Accessed September 22, 2025. https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/27768/chapter/2#2
2. Babalola TK, Clouston SA, Sekendiz Z, et al. SARS-COV-2 re-infection and incidence of post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC) among essential workers in New York: a retrospective cohort study. Lancet. 2025;42:1-8. doi:10.1016/j.lana.2024.100984
3. Hejazian SS, Sadr AV, Shahjouei S, Vemuri A, Abedi V, Zand R. Prevalence and determinants of long-term post-COVID conditions in the United States: 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Am J Med. 2024:1-11. doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2024.02.010
4. Hou Y, Gu T, Ni Z, Shi X, Ranney ML, Mukherjee B. Global prevalence of long COVID, its subtypes, and risk factors: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis. Open Forum Infect Dis. 2025;12(9). doi:10.1093/ofid/ofaf533
5. National Center for Health Statistics. Long COVID: Household Pulse Survey. cdc.gov. Updated October 3, 2024. Accessed September 22, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/long-covid.htm
6. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Diabetes Statistics Report. cdc.gov. Published May 15, 2024. Accessed September 22, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/php/data-research/index.html
7. Komaroff AL, Lipkin IW. ME/CFS and long COVID share similar symptoms and biological abnormalities: road map to the literature. Front Med. 2023;10:1-24. doi:10.3389/fmed.2023.1187163
8. Ewing A, Salamon S, Pretorius R, et al. Spectrum of COVID-19: from asymptomatic organ damage to long COVID syndrome. World Health Network. Published March 15, 2024. Accessed September 22, 2025. https://whn.global/scientific/spectrum-of-covid-19-from-asymptomatic-organ-damage-to-long-covid-syndrome/
9. Cohen J, van der Meulen Rodgers Y. Long COVID prevalence, disability, and accommodations: analysis across demographic groups. J Occup Rehabil. 2024;34(2):335-349. doi:10.1007/s10926-024-10173-3
10. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Surveillance and data analytics: COVID-19 surveillance data in the United States. cdc.gov. Updated September 5, 2025. Accessed September 22, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/covid/php/surveillance/index.html
11. Hurt RT, Yadav S, Schroeder DR, et al. Longitudinal progression of patients with long COVID treated in a post-COVID clinic: a cross-sectional survey. J Prim Care Community Health. 2024;15:1-11. doi:10.1177/21501319241258671
12. Castaneres-Zapataro D, Chalon P, Kohn L, et al. Pathophysiology and mechanism of long COVID: a comprehensive review. Ann Med. 2022;54(1):1473-1487. doi:10.1080/07853890.2022.2076901
13. Su S, Zhao Y, Zeng N, et al. Epidemiology, clinical presentation, pathophysiology, and management of long COVID: an update. Mol Psychiatry. 2023;28:4056–4069. doi:10.1038/s41380-023-02171-3
14. Mayo Clinic. COVID-19 vaccines: get the facts. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Published September 12, 2024. Accessed September 22, 2025. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-vaccine/art-20484859
Last reviewed on
September 28, 2025