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Long COVID caused or contributed to the deaths of 3,544 Americans during the first 30 months of the pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Wednesday.
Researchers based the report, the first to examine long COVID deaths nationwide, on death certificate data from January 2020 through the end of June 2022.
The CDC defines long COVID, or Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19, as “long-term symptoms experienced after a person has recovered from acute infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.”
Just 0.3% of the 1,021,487 death certificates listing the coronavirus as the underlying or contributing cause of death mentioned long COVID, the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics found.
The actual death toll is likely much higher since the understanding of long-term COVID effects is still evolving, the report noted.
These findings suggest long COVID symptoms could be signs of a shortening lifespan, said CDC health scientist Farida Ahmad, the report’s lead author.
“Until now, COVID-19 surveillance has focused mostly on acute infections and directly involved deaths.
