Health and Healthcare

The State Where the Most People Have Long COVID-19

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: August 30, 2021 9:30 am

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, as many as 30% of people who had COVID-19 experience at least one symptom up to six months after the virus leaves their bodies. This adds up to as many as 10 million Americans. Most often, the study’s authors report, symptoms include “neurological challenges, cognitive problems such as brain fog, shortness of breath, fatigue, pain, and mobility issues.”
[in-text-ad]
The medical community has an official designation of long COVID-19, which is post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC). The National Institutes of Health has launched an initiative to identify the people who suffer from PASC and find treatments to help them recover. The program began on February 23.

The American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation keeps statistics on PASC. The data are updated daily. Currently, of the 38,070,425 COVID-19 cases in the United States, the estimate of those with long COVID is 11,421,128.

How do people prevent suffering from long COVID-19? The advice is identical to that given for people to prevent COVID-19 infections. According to WebMD, aside from vaccination:

You should wear a mask and maintain at least 6 feet of distance between yourself and other people when you’re in public. Wash your hands with soap or use alcohol-based sanitizer as often as you can and avoid going to crowded places.

These are the 13 states where more than 250,000 people are thought to suffer from long COVID-19:

• California (1,273,014)
• Texas (1,050,298)
• Florida (954,993)
• New York (661,972)
• Illinois (445,202)
• Georgia (392,468)
• Pennsylvania (377,958)
• Ohio (354,580)
• North Carolina (352,466)
• New Jersey (317,071)
• Michigan (301,294)
• Arizona (294,944)
• Tennessee (290,806)

Click here to see which city in each state has the most COVID-19 cases.