The percentage of adults currently infected by long COVID decreased from 7.5% to 6% in a year, according to a report released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday.
The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report said about 25% of infected adults reported they still experience “significant activity limitations,” a result that hasn’t changed within the last year.
“Limited ability to carry out day-to-day activities because of long COVID symptoms can have a significant impact on quality of life, functional status and ability to work or provide care to others,” the report said, adding that “long COVID in U.S. adults has also been associated with lower likelihood of working full time and higher likelihood of being unemployed.”
According to ABC News, “The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services estimates that anywhere from 7.7 million to 23 million Americans have developed long COVID at some point during the pandemic.”
Report details
The report is based on results from the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, a study that examines how COVID-19 has affected different aspects of people’s lives, per ABC News.
CNN said, “Among adults reporting previous Covid-19 infections, long Covid prevalence fell from 18.9% to 11% during the study period.”
The report said long COVID was least prevalent for those in the youngest and oldest age groups that reported previous infections, and prevalence was highest for U.S. adults from ages 35-44.
Adults older than 50 were most likely to have severe COVID-19 symptoms, but researchers were unable to distinguish “whether there is any associated risk between age and long COVID,” per CNN.
Is there a treatment for long COVID?
There is no cure for long COVID, but doctors can treat symptoms caused by the sickness, said Yale Medicine.
Long COVID has a wide array of symptoms that range in severity, per the CDC. Those symptoms include cough, chest pain, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, change in smell or taste and diarrhea.
Clinical trials for a long COVID vaccine are being conducted by the National Institutes of Health, previously reported by the Deseret News.