About 20 % of U.S. Adults Who Got COVID-19 Now Have Long COVID, Data Find

1 in 5 U.S. Adults Who Got COVID-19 Now Have Long COVID, Data Find More than 7% of U.S. adults have Long COVID Time

About 7.5% of U.S. adults—roughly 20 million people—are currently living with Long COVID symptoms, according to new federal data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).

That finding, drawn from the Household Pulse Survey run in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau, is based on self-reported data from about 62,000 U.S. adults surveyed in June. More than 40% of respondents said they’d previously had COVID-19. And about one in five of those individuals said they still had Long COVID symptoms, defined as new health issues—like fatigue, cognitive issues, difficulty breathing, chest pain, and more—lasting at least three months after infection.

While there’s no single hallmark symptom of Long COVID, many long-haulers report extreme fatigue and crashes after physical activity, cognitive dysfunction, neurological issues, and chronic pain, among other health problems.

In the NCHS survey, Long COVID prevalence varied quite a bit by demographics. As other studies have suggested, women were more likely than men to report current Long COVID symptoms: 9.4% did, compared to 5.5% of men. ...