Warn Patients with COVID-19 They May Be in for a Long Haul—Even with a ‘Mild’ Case

If there are still members of the general public who perceive COVID-19 to be nothing worse (or longer lasting) than a bad case of the flu, you might want to help them set more realistic expectations in the event they get sick. New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal that 35% of people who tested positive still had not returned to their “usual state of health” several weeks after testing. The data were drawn from a telephone survey of adults 18 years of age and older in 13 states, 14 to 21 days after they were tested. These were not severe cases, either, as none of the patients who took part in the survey had been hospitalized. The vast majority (94%) did report experiencing at least one symptom at the time of testing. Another indicator of how persistent the virus is: A separate CDC study notes that approximately 9% of patients who have been hospitalized with COVID-19 had to be readmitted within 2 months of discharge. The rate of rehospitalization was especially high in those 65 years of age and older, those who had a preexisting chronic condition, or those who were initially discharged to a long-term care facility.