Dr. Marc Siegel offered insights into the potential reasons behind the regional disparities highlighted in the new CDC report.
The effects of COVID-19 appear to persist longer among residents in certain states compared to others, as indicated by the latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This report tracks reported cases of long COVID across the United States.
According to the report, the highest prevalence of long COVID was observed in West Virginia, where 10.6% of survey respondents reported experiencing long-term effects of the virus in 2022. Similarly, in Alabama and Montana, long COVID cases were reported by 9.8% of respondents.
States with long COVID cases exceeding 8% included North Dakota (9.3%), Oklahoma (9.1%), Wyoming (9.0%), Tennessee (8.9%), Mississippi (8.7%), Iowa (8.3%), South Dakota (8.3%), and Utah (8.3%).
According to the report, 6.9% of U.S. adults reported ever experiencing long COVID. The South, West, and Midwest regions showed the highest prevalence of long COVID, while New England and the Pacific regions reported the lowest cases.
Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Fox News medical contributor, who was not involved in the CDC report, emphasized the need for further studies on long COVID reporting methods, including the demographics of reporters and the criteria used to define symptoms, which may vary across regions.
“Vaccine uptake is evidently influential, as several studies have demonstrated that receiving at least three shots substantially reduces the risk of long COVID,” he informed Fox News Digital.
Dr. Siegel also highlighted underlying health conditions as a significant factor. “We know that obesity, for example, significantly increases the risk of severe COVID, and severe COVID is associated with persistent symptoms and long COVID,” he explained.
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