Long COVID: More than 1 in 4 Floridians with COVID developed lasting symptoms, survey says

C. A. Bridges, USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida
·5 min read

More than 1 out of every 4 people in Florida who reported a positive COVID test developed lasting COVID symptoms, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to the latest Household Pulse Survey from the Census, covering the last two weeks in October 2023, nearly 3 million Floridians reported COVID-19 symptoms that lasted three months or longer. That's 27.6% of the people aged 18 and older in the state who received a positive COVID test or diagnosis from a healthcare provider, the report says.

Anyone infected with COVID-19 can develop long COVID with lingering, long-term effects — fatigue, shortness of breath, coughs, headaches, difficulty thinking clearly and more — and they range from mild to debilitating. Symptoms can last for weeks, months or years. Long COVID is more common in people who had severe cases of COVID, people with underlying health conditions and people who have had COVID multiple times, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

As of last year Florida no longer breaks out the numbers of people getting booster shots. In the last weekly situation report the Florida Department of Health issued in October, 72% of the state population was listed as having been vaccinated but only about a quarter of them had received at least one booster shot since. According to the New York Times, only about 12% of Floridians have received the booster that protects against the latest, highly transmissible variants.

Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo has argued against widespread vaccination and boosters, recommending against healthy children getting vaccinated and against anyone under the age of 65 getting boosters. In January, he called for a halt of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine.

As of Feb. 9, over 8 million people in Florida have reported positive COVID cases, according to the Florida Department of Health, putting us third in the nation behind California and Texas. That's almost certainly lower than the actual number, as fewer cases were reported by healthcare providers or county health departments once people started testing at home. Over 94,000 Floridians have died from COVID.

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What is long COVID?

Most people who get infected with COVID-49 recover after a few days or weeks.

"Long COVID" is the term used to describe a wide range of COVID symptoms that seem to never go away, or resurface after a period of apparent health. Sometimes symptoms can appear weeks later for people who didn't have any symptoms when they first caught it. It's also called post-acute COVID-19, or long-haul COVID, and it can ruin lives.

What is long COVID doing to Floridians?

About half of the people who reported COVID-19 symptoms lasting three months or longer did not respond to questions in the survey about long-term symptoms that reduced their ability to carry out day-to-day activities. Of the ones who did:

  • Vision: 309,078 people reported some difficulty. 59,938 of those reported a lot of difficulty.

  • Hearing: 158,761 people reported some difficulty. 9,242 of them reported a lot of difficulty.

  • Remembering or concentrating: 462,942 people reported some difficulty. 149,845 of them reported a lot of difficulty. 40,553 said they couldn't do it at all.

  • Walking or climbing stairs: 332,344 people reported some difficulty. 5,834 of them reported a lot of difficulty. 5,417 people said they couldn't do it at all.

  • Self-care: 100,877 people reported some difficulty. 56,569 of them reported a lot of difficulty.

  • Understanding or being understood: 119,617 reported some difficulty. 28,076 of them reported a lot of difficulty

As of Oct. 30, 2023, 947,922 of the people who reported COVID symptoms lasting three months or more said they still had them, while over 8 million said they did not.

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What are the symptoms of long COVID?

Long COVID can have a wide range of symptoms and may affect everyone differently. In a study funded by the National Institutes of Health, researchers identified symptoms that are the most distinctive to long COVID, including: fatigue, especially after exercise; brain fog; dizziness; gastrointestinal symptoms; heart palpitations; issues with sexual desire or capacity; loss of smell or taste; thirst; chronic cough; chest pain; and abnormal movements.

According to the CDC, symptoms from long COVID can appear similar to "myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and other poorly understood chronic illnesses" and may be difficult to understand and manage.

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Can I get tested for long COVID?

There isn't a test for long COVID, according to the CDC, as it isn't just one illness. Talk to your healthcare provider about any lingering symptoms, and if you've developed new or aggravated health issues make sure they know if you've previously had COVID in case it helps with diagnosis.

Long COVID is diagnosed based on your health history and current examination, along with your COVID history.

How does Florida compare to other states?

We're not the worst. Oklahoma and Montana have the highest percentages of adults, about 34%, who tested positive for COVID-19 and have experienced symptoms lasting longer than three months according to the report. Georgia (31.7%), Arkansas (30.8%), Ohio (30%), North and South Dakota (about 30%), Wyoming (29.7%), West Virginia (29.4%), Indiana (28.7%), and Kentucky (28.5%) all had higher percentages, and Arizona tied with Florida (27.6%).

Where did the U.S. Census Bureau get these numbers?

The numbers are based on a survey sent to 1,054,612 households across the U.S. as a systemic sample.

"The HPS is designed to provide near real-time data on how the pandemic has affected people’s lives," the Census said.

Sara Chernikoff and Janet Loehrke, USA TODAY, contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Long COVID: Survey shows 1 in 4 cases in Florida had lasting symptoms