The world was slow to recognize long COVID as one of the most serious consequences of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. The virus continues to be a public health challenge due to viral variants, particularly among unvaccinated people.
Currently, research is needed on exactly how to test to determine who is at the most significant risk for long COVID, how long COVID can persist in a patient, the frequency of the impact of infection from SARS-CoV-2 variants, and the extent of the impact of vaccines to conquer an acute COVID-19 infection leading to long COVID.