1. Learn about Long COVID

There's new research about the long-term effects of COVID-19. Some people who had COVID-19 continue to have symptoms even if they test negative. Or their symptoms come back after they get better.

But not a lot is known yet about what's called Long COVID or Post-COVID. And there's currently no test to diagnose it.

Someone can have Long COVID, even if all of their medical tests, like chest X-rays, are normal.

Long COVID symptoms

The symptoms of Long COVID can be different for everyone. They can be physical or mental. Some of the symptoms are:

• being tired to the point where you can't do your daily tasks
• feeling depressed and anxious
• coughing or being short of breath
• having trouble concentrating or thinking, which is also called brain fog
• having chest pains or heart palpitations, which are feelings that your heart is pounding or racing

Generally, people have Long COVID if their symptoms:

• last or come back 3 months after the first COVID-19 symptoms started,
• last for over 2 months, and
• can't be explained by another illness.

Long COVID can last for months or even years. It can affect you even if you had no symptoms or only mild symptoms when you were first sick with COVID-19.

COVID-19 tests

You don't need to have proof of a positive COVID-19 test to be diagnosed with Long COVID. This is because people may have had COVID-19 but they:

• were not tested at the right time,
• were not able to get tested, or
• got a false negative result, which means that the test showed they did not have COVID-19 and they did.