A term for a person who is experiencing new, returning or ongoing health problems after COVID-19, the disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Deeper dive
While most people recover and return to normal health within days or a few weeks after infection, some people have lingering symptoms. Even those who weren’t hospitalized and seemed to initially have mild symptoms, can have symptoms that persist. Anyone that has symptoms four weeks after infection, may be considered a COVID-19 ‘long-hauler.’
Long-haulers report a myriad of symptoms including shortness of breath, cough, extreme fatigue, headaches and brain fog. Some even experience serious consequences like inflammation of the heart and loss of lung function. Because the disease is so new, public health officials and scientists continue to study the risk of long-term COVID-19 and why some infected individuals have symptoms that last longer than others.