Long Covid Continues to Affect Americans

It’s been five years since Covid was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. While hospitalizations and the death toll have ebbed following the success of vaccination programmes, many are still feeling the physical repercussions in the form of long Covid.

Data published by the CDC shows that nearly one in five adults in the United States (17.9 percent) have ever experienced long Covid. This is according to a representative survey conducted between August 20 and September 2024. It is up from the 14.2 percent of U.S. respondents who said the same in an earlier survey wave carried out from September 14 to September 24, 2022, reflecting how the disease has continued to circulate.

But as this chart shows, the share of the population currently experiencing long Covid is petering out as time from the peak outbreak elapses. Last summer, 5.3 percent of the U.S. population reported that they were currently experiencing long Covid, down from 7.2 percent in 2022.

The CDC also provides data on the share of U.S. adults who have experienced activity limitations due to long Covid. These figures have also improved with time. While these numbers may sound low, 4.4 percent of the U.S. population is still more than 15 million people.