30% of Adults With COVID Have Symptoms Lasting 3 Months

Nov. 29, 2022 – Nearly 3 of every 10 U.S. adults who have had COVID-19 said that their symptoms lasted at least 3 months, according to a new Census Bureau report.

The report, called the Household Pulse Survey, was based on responses collected from Nov. 2-14. Nearly 36 million adults – 29.1% – said their symptoms lasted at least a quarter of the year. In Mississippi, more than 42% of adults said they had extended symptoms, the most of any state, while only 22% of adults in Maine said the same, the lowest of any state.

Those numbers are actually down slightly from Oct. 5-17, when 29.6% of U.S. adults said they'd had long COVID symptoms. The same percentages were seen in September, while from July 27 to Aug. 8, the percentage of adults with long COVID symptoms was 33.2%.

In the same survey, nearly 15% of all adults said they had ever experienced long COVID of any duration during the Nov. 2-Nov. 14 survey period.

It’s estimated that more than a third of people who have had COVID-19 also have neurological complications such as brain fog that persist or develop 3 months after infection. And two-thirds of people with long COVID still have neurological symptoms after 6 months, some studies show. 

Recent data reveals long COVID is keeping 2 million to 4 million Americans out of work, and the virus is still killing nearly 400 people in the U.S. every day.