But now, research is showing that even those who have mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 infections (meaning they had little or no symptoms) can experience these long-haul symptoms of COVID-19. They feel fine while the virus is active in their body, but begin experiencing symptoms months after they've tested negative.
Symptoms of long COVID
extreme tiredness (fatigue) feeling short of breath. loss of smell. muscle aches.
While most people with Long COVID have evidence of infection or COVID-19 illness, in some cases, a person with Long COVID may not have tested positive for the virus or known they were infected.
COVID-19 Symptoms:
The CDC also includes the following less-common symptoms: nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Some people may have very mild symptoms. Some can have no symptoms, but still spread the disease.
As of April, the federal government's Household Pulse survey estimates that about 10% of adults infected with the virus continue to experience and suffer from the many symptoms termed together as long COVID.
People with moderate or severe COVID-19 should isolate through at least day 10. Those with severe COVID-19 may remain infectious beyond 10 days and may need to extend isolation for up to 20 days. People who are moderately or severely immunocompromised should isolate through at least day 20.
Markers in our blood – 'fingerprints' of infection – could help identify individuals who have been infected by SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, several months after infection even if the individual had only mild symptoms or showed no symptoms at all, say Cambridge researchers.
The study found that half of the patients with COVID-19 and one-quarter of those who tested negative had at least one symptom at three months follow-up.
Long COVID, the condition where symptoms that surface after recovering from COVID-19 linger for weeks, months, or even years, is still a mystery to doctors and researchers. The symptoms, such as chronic pain, brain fog, shortness of breath, chest pain, and intense fatigue, can be debilitating.
Symptoms are wide-ranging and fluctuating, and can include breathlessness, chronic fatigue, “brain fog”, anxiety and stress. The long-term effects of COVID-19 are often referred to interchangeably as long COVD and post COVID syndrome.
It can make you feel dull and tired, take away your energy, and eat away at your ability to get things done. Depending on the seriousness of your COVID-19 infection, it may last 2 to 3 weeks. But for some people with a severe infection, the brain fog-like fatigue and pain can linger for weeks or months.
Muscle aches and pains are described as 'myalgia'. It can involve your ligaments, tendons, soft tissues and it can also cause joint pain. Myalgia can be a common symptom if you have a viral infection such as COVID and it can affect a specific area or spread more widely.
Once you have had COVID-19, your immune system responds in several ways. This immune response can protect you against another infection for several months, but this protection decreases over time. People with weakened immune systems who get an infection may have a limited immune response or none at all.
The research shows that covid-19 headaches are most similar to either tension headaches or migraines. The symptoms of tension-like headaches include: Moderate or severe pain. Pain on both sides of the head.
Long-haul symptoms typically occur four weeks or more after recovering from the virus.
How long does fatigue last after COVID-19? Your recovery from COVID-related fatigue will likely depend on how severe your illness was. After a mild case of COVID-19 your fatigue may clear up after about 2-3 weeks. But if you had a severe case, it's possible to feel sluggish and tired for months.
A 2021 study revealed that 43.6% of hospitalized people with COVID reported back pain, and 33.1% reported lower back pain. This type of pain can be caused by many factors, such as inflammation, which is a direct consequence of the illness, and spending long periods in bed, which worsens muscle tension.
Long COVID patients present elevated inflammatory biomarkers after initial infection. Our study found that people with higher levels of IL-6, CRP, and TNF-α after SARS-CoV-2 infection for one or more months may experience long-term COVID symptoms.
Your infectiousness is highest 1 day before the start of your symptoms and begins to wane about a week later for most people. The Omicron variant has a shorter incubation period, compared to other variants. For the Omicron variant, the incubation period is 1 to 4 days.
You may need to get tested even if you do not have symptoms. You can have COVID-19 and spread it to others even if you do not have symptoms. Your COVID-19 test can be negative even if you are infected. Most people do not test positive for the virus until days after exposure.
If you are significantly immunosuppressed, you are more likely to be infectious for longer than 7 days and may still be able to spread the virus. Follow these measures until day 14 following your positive test result to further reduce any remaining risk of spreading the virus.
This should be until 24 hours after your symptoms resolve. Some people may test positive for COVID-19 after they have recovered and no longer have symptoms, but you are unlikely to be infectious beyond 24 hours after your symptoms have ended.