Axios-Ipsos poll indicates long COVID prevalence

About one in seven Americans who experienced COVID say they had symptoms at least a month later, according to a new Axios-Ipsos poll.

The big picture: While it's still hard to pin down how many people experience long COVID, the poll offers additional evidence of its widespread impact.

• As NPR recently reported, various studies have estimated long COVID's prevalence anywhere from less than 5% to nearly 60% of total cases.
• "It can be really confusing, even to scientists," said Christina Pagel at University College London, per NPR.

Between the lines: Generally, symptoms described by patients have included brain fog, fatigue, persistent cough, loss of taste or smell and organ damage.

By the numbers: Because there were small sample sizes for this particular question, Axios used the average across three waves of polls.

• The surveys of 683 adults taken in the three waves between Nov. 5 and Dec. 13 found about 25% of respondents who either tested positive for or believed they had COVID said symptoms lasted less than a week.
• 38% indicated symptoms lasted one to two weeks.
• 10% indicated symptoms lasted for a month to six months and 4% said their symptoms lasted more than six months.

Go deeper ...