Kids May Suffer from Long COVID, but Data Are Scarce

Clinics are popping up around the US to study the sometimes long-lasting effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children and teens.

Written byJef Akst

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While kids who contract SARS-CoV-2 generally don’t get severe COVID-19, evidence is accumulating that some may suffer long-lasting effects akin to what’s been dubbed long COVID in adults. Healthcare centers around the world are setting up facilities to monitor and deal with the problem, including among children.

Data from the UK Office for National Statistics released in February showed that 13 percent of COVID-19 patients under the age of 11 and about 15 percent of those aged 12 to 16 had at least one symptom more than a month after diagnosis. And in a preprint posted on medRxiv at the end of January, researchers surveying caregivers of 129 patients under the age of 18 in Rome found that more than half of the children had yet to completely recover within four months of a positive SARS-CoV-2 test, and nearly one-quarter of the children had three or ...

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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