Long Covid is characterized by new, returning or ongoing health problems at least four weeks after an initial infection. Studies estimate that up to 23 million people in the United States – one out of 14 Americans – have developed long Covid.
- Tim Persons, chief scientist for the Science, Technology Assessment and Analytics Team at the Government Accountability Office, said his team is working to help Congress understand the current and future budgetary impacts of long Covid as well as trends and policy implications from scientific data.
- He said the government is using advanced computing, algorithms and machine learning to analyze very large amounts of data to find patterns and understand long Covid.
- Persons said continued focus on therapeutics for long Covid will be necessary as an estimated one million people have dropped out of the workforce because of the illness.
