The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a warning that a specific symptom of COVID-19 can last for months.
What is happening?
The CDC has a specific page on its website for anyone who had or thinks they have COVID-19. The page details when people can stay close to others without fear of spreading the virus.
- People can visit other people 10 days after the first symptoms appear and 24 hours without a fever (specifically without using a fever-reducing medication, according to the CDC. You will also want to be sure that other symptoms are improving.
- However, the CDC also says that “the loss of taste and smell can persist for weeks or months after recovery and need not delay the end of the isolation”.
- These recommendations do not apply to those with severe COVID-19 or a weakened immune system.
More about long-haulers
Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been patients with COVID-19 who have symptoms for weeks and months after diagnosis. These patients are often called “long-haulers”. Taste and smell have been a long-standing symptom.
Long-distance symptoms include exhaustion, shortness of breath, headaches, rapid heartbeat, changes in taste and smell and cerebral fog, among other symptoms, as I wrote for Deseret News.
Recently, thousands of Utah residents dealing with the symptoms of COVID-19 months after diagnosis celebrated their recognition after the state coronavirus website added a recent article about them.