States where people were skeptical about the threat of Covid have some of the highest rates of long Covid-19, data shows.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today published a state-by-state breakdown of rates of the difficult-to-diagnose disease, based on self-reporting.
It showed that in 2022 – according to the most recent data available – seven percent of Americans reported having experienced a long bout of Covid-19 at some point, about 18 million.
Rates were highest in Republican-led West Virginia at 10.6 percent. The lowest rate range, 3.7 percent to 5.3 percent, was observed in Washington, DC.
Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Alabama, Tennessee and West Virginia fell into the highest prevalence group: 8.9 percent to 10.6 percent.
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Regionally, prevalence tended to be higher in the South and Midwest and lower in New England and the Pacific Northwest.
Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine all had the second-lowest prevalence of residents reporting long Covid, at 3.7 percent to 5.3 per cent.
The health agency analyzed data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which contains information on more than 400,000 U.S. adults.
Respondents were sampled via random telephone calls. Long Covid was defined as the self-report of symptoms that lasted for three or more months and were not present before becoming infected.
The CDC report did not explain the numbers, but states with higher long Covid prevalence also tended to have more Covid cases per 100,000 residents during the pandemic.
Additionally, states with more long-term Covid patients also tended to have lower vaccination rates, plus high rates of obesity and other chronic health conditions.
Numerous surveys have also shown that people in the Red States thought the danger of the Covid virus was exaggerated.
In Montana, only 12 percent of residents have received an updated Covid booster and the state’s case rate was 36,400 per 100,000 residents.
By comparison, Washington, DC, has 32 percent of residents aware of boosters and a case rate of 23,730
Long Covid is estimated to affect between nine and twenty million Americans, but it is notoriously difficult to diagnose as most symptoms resemble other health problems and most diagnostic tests – such as urinalysis or X-rays – appear normal.
Patients are often dismissed by doctors who think it’s all in their heads or that they have an entirely different condition.
The condition consists of a constellation of symptoms that persist after a person recovers from the initial Covid infection, including persistent fatigue and brain fog.
However, a study published in September 2023 found that blood tests of people who report suffering from long Covid-19 show clear biological differences from those who do not have the condition.
The study suggested that blood tests could be helpful in identifying possible treatments for symptoms, which would give hope to those who report living with the condition.
The CDC report states: “The findings in this report address an important data gap in knowledge about the prevalence of Long COVID.
‘Given increased healthcare needs among individuals experiencing long COVID, continued assessment of prevalence data at state and territory levels could guide policy, planning or programming.’
“State-level estimates can also help identify geographic disparities in Long COVID across the United States, which can guide interventions to promote health equity.”