Long COVID

What is long COVID?

Long-term COVID-19 symptoms

Those experiencing COVID-19-related symptoms four or more weeks after their initial infection are said to have long COVID. Healthcare professionals, journalists, and others discussing COVID use this term to refer to long-term COVID cases on social media, in forums, and in news articles.

People who initially experienced severe COVID symptoms are most likely to experience long COVID. However, those with mild cases or who previously appeared asymptomatic can also become COVID long-haulers, if symptoms persist or appear weeks or months after the person's initial infection.

What are the symptoms of long COVID?

Those with long COVID may experience:

  • Fatigue
  • Shortness of breath (SOB)
  • Coughs
  • Aches
  • Difficulty thinking
  • Intermittent fevers
  • Loss of taste and/or smell

In some cases, those with long COVID may experience more severe symptoms. However, those symptoms are less common.

Example

Feeling better but my sense of smell hasn't come back; looks like I've got the long COVID
You're doing better than me; I constantly can't catch my breath
Twitter users discuss long COVID using the #LongCOVID hashtag
Twitter users discuss long COVID using the #LongCOVID hashtag

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Updated January 14, 2022

Long COVID definition by Slang.net

This page explains what the slang term "Long COVID" means. The definition, example, and related terms listed above have been written and compiled by the Slang.net team.

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