While 6.4 percent of adults across the United States have reported experiencing Long-COVID, a study published last week in the recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report shows that rates of Long-Covid vary widely depending on location.
According to the study, Long-Covid is “a range of health problems that emerge, persist, or recur following acute Covid-19 illness, including figure, respiratory symptoms, and neurologic symptoms.” The condition can present as anything from mildly clouded cognitive function, or “brain fog”, to debilitating fatigue and multiple organ damage, and is estimated to impact hundreds of millions around the world.
In the United States, the U.S. Virgin Islands reported the lowest prevalence of Long-Covid – only 1.9% of the population, while West Virginia was on the other end of the scale, at 10.6%. Six other states (Alabama, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Wyoming) reported Long-Covid prevalence above 8.9%, while Guam and Washington D.C were in the USVI’s cohort of jurisdictions with the lowest prevalence of Long-Covid (between 1.9 and 3.6 percent).
The CDC study notes that vaccination status was not captured or included in this report, and neither were details about the treatment patients got during the active phase of their Covid-19 infection, the time since they were infected, or the length or severity of their symptomatic period. All these factors, researchers say, could influence the reported prevalence of Long-Covid.
The results of this survey, it is hoped, could guide local “policy, planning, or programming” around the increased healthcare needs of those experiencing Long-COVID, the study’s authors note.
