About 6.8% of American adults are currently experiencing lingering Covid symptoms, according to a new survey from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which reveals an “alarming” increase in recent months, even as the health agency Covid isolation recommendations eased, experts say.
This means that an estimated 17.6 million Americans may now be living with a long Covid.
“That should set off alarms for a lot of people,” said David Putrino, the Nash Family Director of the Cohen Center for Complex Chronic Illness Recovery at Mount Sinai. “We’re really starting to see problems pop up faster than I expected.”
When the same survey was conducted in October, 5.3% of respondents experienced prolonged Covid symptoms at the time.
The 1.5 percentage point increase comes after the second largest surge in infections across the US this winter, as measured by available wastewater data.
More than three-quarters of people with long-standing Covid currently say the disease limits their daily activity, and about one in five say it significantly affects their activities – an estimated 3.8 million Americans now experiencing debilitating illness after Covid infection.
A new one study found that thousands of people in the UK may be out of work due to prolonged Covid. Americans have too missed work at higher rates since the pandemic began.
The rate of adults currently experiencing prolonged Covid has not been this high since November 2022; the highest since CDC began tracking the disease was 7.6% in June and July 2022.
The “estimates represent only a snapshot in time,” making it difficult to identify the role of various factors such as recent increases, vaccination rates, new variants and survey methods, said Dave Daigle, a spokesman for the CDC.
The most recent Household Pulse recording took place between January 9 and February 5, and asked respondents if their Covid symptoms were currently lasting three months or longer. Because prolonged Covid symptoms, by definition, appear or persist after infection, the rate may continue to rise in the coming months, even as infections decline from the winter peak.
The next round of survey results are expected at the end of this month.
US health agencies define long Covid as symptoms lasting four weeks or longer, so the rate by that definition may be even higher than reported in this survey.
There are notable differences across geography, with the highest rates reported in North Dakota, Kentucky, West Virginia, Alaska, and Maine, and the lowest rates in Hawaii, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming.
A total of 17.6% of American adults have ever experienced prolonged Covid symptoms, the survey found.
Although children were not included in the CDC survey, they also experience prolonged Covid, including fatigue, brain fog and headaches, as well as serious respiratory and cardiovascular problems, such as myocarditis, studies Show.
The increase in long-term Covid cases is particularly worrisome because “we still don’t know all the things that long-term Covid does, how it does it and why,” says Lara Jirmanus, a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School and a member of the People’s CDC.
Ignoring Covid cases now is “hubris that almost assumes we can see the future”, Jirmanus said. “No one knows how long Covid will last five years from now. I don’t think it’s wise to throw all caution to the wind.”
The survey results were released on February 22, more than a week before the CDC updated its Covid isolation recommendations. The CDC says in that guidance that the “incidence of prolonged Covid is also declining”, contrary to its own survey findings.
The agency’s advice to leave isolation after symptoms began to improve flies in the face of scientific evidence and is likely to lead to more spread of the virus and more cases of prolonged Covid, experts said.
“This is very irresponsible advice, and it just doesn’t follow the science. And that’s a shame, because we rely on public officials and we rely on government officials to interpret science and present it to us – that’s their job. And right now they are failing in their responsibility to us,” Putrino said.
While vaccines help reduce the risk of developing prolonged Covid, the best way to prevent it is to avoid Covid, Putrino said – especially since repeated infections increase the likelihood of prolonged illness. “Every time you get a Covid infection, you put yourself at greater risk of developing long-term Covid.”
Those who have had Covid for a long time may experience a resurgence or worsening of symptoms with new infections. One study found that 80% of patients reported that their symptoms were more severe with reinfection.
There is no cure for long Covid, and funding for research into treatments and medications has been slow to materialise.
Putrino said he expects long-term Covid rates to rise and fall with each surge, but the baseline rate could increase over time, which could have tremendous consequences for Americans’ health and well-being.
“All these cases that are happening without government protection and no guidance from the government on infection prevention — it’s taking its toll,” Putrino said.
And it is not yet clear whether the increase in long-term Covid sufferers has an upper limit, or whether cases will continue to increase indefinitely.
“It’s very troubling to me that those risks are not being shared with the public,” he continued. “Allow people to make their own decisions, but give them all the information to make their own decisions.”
