Long COVID recovery remains rare

With COVID-19 cases on the rise again, perhaps you’ve dug out your masks from storage and stocked up on tests, turning your attention back toward the virus after mostly forgetting about it during the lull of the last handful of months. Many people with Long COVID, however, never have the luxury of forgetting. Countless people have been sick for months or years on end, even as COVID-19 largely fades from the public eye.

Inspired by a few recent studies, I dug into the data on how many people with Long COVID fully recover. I found very different estimates. Some studies suggest most post-COVID symptoms clear up within a year, while others have found that total recovery is unfortunately rare and many people still have health problems even multiple years after catching COVID-19.

At this point, I don’t think anyone can say with certainty that they know how many people with Long COVID totally recover. But it’s clear that this condition remains a long-standing problem for a huge group of people—and one we need to keep our focus on, even if the pandemic is over on paper.

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