About Long COVID
Some people who have been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 can experience long-term effects from their infection. This is known as post-COVID conditions or long COVID. People call post-COVID conditions by many names, including: long COVID, long-haul COVID, long-term effects of COVID, and chronic COVID.
Long COVID is a wide range of symptoms (physical and mental) that continue or develop after initial COVID-19 which continues for weeks, months, or longer and are not explained by an alternative diagnosis. Learn more about how
long COVID is defined.
There is no test that determines if your symptoms or condition is due to COVID-19. Long COVID is not one illness and is different from person to person. Your healthcare provider considers a diagnosis of post-COVID conditions based on your health history, including if you had a diagnosis of COVID-19 either by a positive test or by symptoms or exposure, as well as doing a health examination.
Scientists are working to better understand post-COVID conditions and how many people experience them. Estimates of the proportion of people who have long COVID vary. Some estimates of the risk of long COVID vary between 5 and 30%, and a recent large study by CDC suggested that one in five adult COVID-19 survivors aged 18 to 65 years and one in four survivors aged 65 years and over have a health condition related to their previous COVID-19 illness. Learn more about Data for Long COVID from the CDC.