Late last month Congress passed a bill to end the COVID-19 national emergency, three years after it was declared, with the rationale that daily deaths and hospitalizations are way down from their peaks. But while fewer people are dying or in the ICU, the pandemic has left millions who recovered from the initial COVID infection suffering long-term effects, or long COVID, refuting the notion that a public health emergency is over.
Last year the CDC estimated that 7.5% of the adult U.S. population, or about 19 million people, had long COVID, and that 20% of adults 18-64 who recovered from their initial COVID infection have experienced at least one health condition that may be attributable to long COVID.
