Dictionary

long COVID en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˌlɔŋ ˈkoʊvɪd/ (General-American)
• (General-American) audio
• /ˌlɒŋ ˈkəʊvɪd/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Blend of long-term + COVID, coined by Elisa Perego, an archaeologist working in London and sufferer of the condition who used the term in tweets on the online social networking service Twitter as a hashtag and in running text in May 2020 (see the quotations), leading to its widespread use.

Meanings

1. (uncountable) Long-term sequelae or symptoms (such as brain fog, extreme fatigue, or shortness of breath) following a COVID-19 infection, which persist after the SARS-CoV-2 virus is no longer active.
   • As many as 1 in 7 children may have symptoms linked to the coronavirus months after testing positive for COVID-19, the authors of an English study on long COVID in adolescents said on Wednesday. Children rarely become severely ill with COVID-19 but they can suffer lingering symptoms, and the study is one of the largest of its kind on how common so-called long COVID is in the age group. 2021 September 1, “English Study Finds Long COVID Affects up to 1 in 7 Children Months after Infection”, in Reuters, archived from the original on 18 Aug 2022:
   • We believe that, whenever possible, long-COVID therapy should be initiated in a specialty center and evaluated as part of a collaborative, controlled, clinical trial. Every healthcare provider must familiarize themselves with long COVID. If just 5% of patients have symptoms for more than two months following COVID-19, then about 7 million people in the United States are currently suffering from long COVID. 2023, Don Goldenberg, Marc Dichter, “The Way Forward: For Patients, Healthcare Providers, and Research”, in Unravelling Long COVID, Hoboken, N.J.; Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, →ISBN, page 192:
   • There are strong reasons to argue that Long Covid is the first illness to be made through patients finding one another on Twitter and other social media. Both of us have Long Covid and have contributed to making it. 2021 January, Felicity Callard, Elisa Perego, “How and Why Patients Made Long Covid”, in Ichiro Kawachi, S. V. Subramanian, editors, Social Science & Medicine, volume 268, Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, →PMID, article number 113426, page 2, column 1:
   • The Omicron variant of coronavirus is less likely to cause long COVID than previous variants, according to the first peer-reviewed study of its kind from the United Kingdom. Researchers at King's College London, using data from the ZOE COVID Symptom Study app, found that the odds of developing long COVID after infection were 20 per cent to 50 per cent lower during the Omicron wave in the United Kingdom compared to Delta. 2022 June 17, “Omicron Less Likely to Cause Long COVID: UK Study”, in CNA, Singapore, archived from the original on 17 Jun 2022:
   • In Italy this is not much discussed for now. But the long covid is here, too, of course. I think drs [doctors] will slowly come to understand it, as they see patients fail to recover properly. 2020 May 15, Elisa Perego (@elisaperego78), Twitter, archived from the original on 15 May 2020:
   • There is also absolutely no doubt of the severity of the consequences of long Covid. 2020 September 8, Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, “Oral Evidence: Social Care: Funding and Workforce, HC 206”, in UK Parliament: Committees (Health and Social Care Select Committee, House of Commons of the United Kingdom), London: Parliament of the United Kingdom, archived from the original on 27 Oct 2022, question 185:
   • Her consultant had been matter of fact: 'Post-viral fatigue,' he had said briskly. 'We see a lot of it after the flu, or viral pneumonia like yours …' he'd shrugged, 'it's similar to long COVID, that tail of symptoms that carry on after the initial infection has gone. I'll prescribe you some steroid treatment, but you need to rest.' 2022, Nicola Cornick, “Lucy”, in The Winter Garden, London: HQ, HarperCollins, →ISBN:
   • The #LongCovid #COVID19 is starting to be addressed on major newspapers in Italy 🇮🇹 too:[…] [2020 May 21, Elisa Perego (@elisaperego78), Twitter, archived from the original on 27 Jul 2022:
2. (broadly, informal, uncountable) Long-term negative economic effects persisting after the COVID pandemic.
   • 2021, Chenyan Lyu, Tooraj Jamasb, Jan Peter Georg Spanholtz, The Long Covid of Energy Markets and Prices [See title.]

Forms

Relateds

long vax · long-hauler

Synonyms

long-tail Covid · post-COVID-19 condition · long-haul COVID · post-COVID syndrome · post-COVID-19 syndrome · chronic Covid · post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 · long-term Covid · post Covid · chronic COVID syndrome · ongoing covid

Translations (29)

nl long covid (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · pl długi COVID (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · pt COVID-19 persistente (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · ru постковидный синдром (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · sv postcovid (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · mk постко́виден си́ндром (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · sl dolgi covid (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · mk постко́виден синдро́м (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · uk постковідний синдром (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · it sindrome post-COVID-19 (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · sl dolgotrajni covid (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · de Long COVID (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · eu COVID iraunkor (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · fr Covid long (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · nb senfølger av COVID-19 (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · es COVID-19 persistente (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · ka ხანგრძლივი კოვიდი (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · kmr koronaya dirêj (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · cy COVID hir (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · cs dlouhý covid (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · el μακροχρόνια COVID-19 (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · kmr COVIDa dirêj (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · cmn 長期新冠 /长期新冠 (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · ka გრძელვადიანი კოვიდი (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · tr uzun COVID (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · fi pitkä korona (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · sq Covid-i kronik (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · ca COVID-19 persistent (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection) · da senfølger af COVID-19 (long-term sequelae or symptoms following a COVID-19 infection)