EDITORIAL: Long COVID affects about 15M Americans
May 1-Six years after its arrival, COVID-19 occasionally reminds us that it is still here.
The early panic caused by the pandemic has subsided, but the virus remains disruptive; in 2025, according to the World Health Organization, COVID contributed to more than 20,000 deaths in the United States. Meanwhile, researchers and health care providers are increasingly frustrated by the persistence of long COVID.
As a report from Harvard University explained in December: "Long COVID affects an estimated 15 million Americans. ... Symptoms include fatigue, brain fog, shortness of breath, exercise intolerance, and cognitive decline for months or even years. Doctors and scientists don't fully understand why some people develop long COVID while others don't."
To add context, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 18 million Americans are living with a history of cancer. Long COVID is nearly as common - plus, it is believed that millions of cases have gone undiagnosed.
A recent article from The (Spokane) Spokesman-Review highlights the prevalence of long COVID, with a focus on Latino farmworkers. For example, a study from the University of Washington shows that 41.2 percent of agricultural workers experience long COVID; overall, 34 percent of Latinos report lingering effects from the virus.
Yet long COVID can be difficult to identify. As a physician at the University of Washington Medicine Long COVID clinic said: "There's not like a blood test or an imaging test that can tell us someone has a long COVID. We really base the diagnosis upon the person's symptoms and the timeline of their symptoms with respect to a COVID infection."
The Mayo Clinic adds: "People can get long COVID symptoms after catching the COVID-19 virus even if they never had COVID-19 symptoms. Also, long COVID symptoms can show up weeks or months after a person seems to have recovered. And while the COVID-19 virus spreads from person to person, long COVID is not contagious and doesn't spread between people."
The effects of the lingering disease are a reminder of the importance of vaccines. They also are a reminder of the importance of reliable information.
The best way to avoid long COVID is to avoid contracting the coronavirus in the first place, and vaccines remain the most effective way to do that. Despite falsehoods that have been widely shared online, COVID vaccines have proven to be safe and effective. The quick development of vaccines in late 2020 - months after COVID-19 arrived in the United States - remains the signature achievement of Donald Trump's presidency.
The administration has undermined that success, however, by embracing vaccine skepticism. It is notable when the Clark County Public Health website includes a disclaimer: "Public Health has removed links to the CDC website due to concerns about the accuracy of some of its content. Public Health is replacing CDC resources with links to alternative evidence- and science-based sources of information as available."
Evidence and science should be the bare minimum for those tasked with protecting public health. But federal policy these days too often is guided by fringe opinions. The concern is not just that the public will believe falsehoods; it's that the public doesn't know what to believe.
Americans should follow advice from doctors they trust, not from the internet. And that should apply whether talking about COVID, long COVID or any other health concern.
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This story was originally published May 1, 2026 at 7:10 AM.