Commentary: We’re starting to understand long COVID. Next we can fight it

We’ve been chasing the coronavirus since the pandemic began with vaccines and drugs, never getting ahead of it. In fact, well into its third year, COVID-19 is still causing often disabling symptoms among many people who were infected in early 2020.

The condition of long COVID, also known as post-acute sequelae of SARS CoV-2 infection, is rife with mysteries. While its incidence among adults who have been infected has been estimated at 5% to 40%, a recent study that tracked symptoms before infections and compared participants to controls has given us one of the best snapshots to date. It indicated that 1 in 8 people who have