SAN ANTONIO — Are you one of the ten adults still suffering from long COVID symptoms months after getting sick?
Many people don't understand that even if you get COVID and are asymptomatic, long COVID could appear much later and catch you by surprise. Dr. Junda Woo, the Medical Director of San Antonio's Metro Health told us, "Which can take a lot of different forms that can be anything from trouble breathing, your heart suddenly beating rapidly, or that brain fog we talk about."
We're also hearing kids have a lower chance of coming down with long COVID. In a study published in JAMA pediatrics, scientists analyzed data from 1,026 children who average 10.5 years old in Alberta, Canada between August 2020 and March 2021. Symptoms were reported every 2 weeks for 76 weeks. They said kids were considered to have long COVID if they had one of the following three…A positive PCR test for a COVID-19 infection, new symptoms that started at least three months after a positive PCR test. The symptoms lasted eight weeks or longer. Dr. Woo added, "It can be weeks by some definitions. Some studies are using months. So there's not, as far as I know, a settled definition yet."
Among the most-common long COVID symptoms seen by kids are a sore throat (with two-thirds of young patients reporting the symptom) and a stuffy nose (62% reporting the symptom).
Other symptoms of long COVID being reported by children include:
- About half experiencing a long-term headache.
- 42% experiencing a cough.
- 42% experiencing a fever.
- And about one-third of young patients saying they're constantly tired.
But what if you take a COVID test many days after you're symptoms disappear, and it is still positive? What do you do?
"We still recommend masking for a total of ten days, but we do not recommend retesting yourself to to be cleared for the general public," Dr. Woo said.
Dr. Woo also says getting a vaccine likely lowers your chance of getting long COVID too.
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