Recovering from even mild coronavirus infections can take at least two to three weeks, according to U.S. research published Friday.
Lingering symptoms can even affect otherwise healthy young adults. Among those aged 18 to 34 with no chronic illness, 1 in 5 were still experiencing COVID-19 symptoms after two to three weeks, the study found.
Cough, fatigue and body aches were among the most common persistent symptoms.
Most previous research on long-lasting COVID-19 symptoms has focused on sicker hospitalized adults. Only 7% of patients in the new study needed hospital treatment.
The study was led by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They did phone surveys of 274 patients in several states who tested positive for the virus between the end of March and June 4. Patients were queried two to three weeks after those tests.