What do we know about children getting long COVID?

Before the delta variant became widespread it was believed that children are less likely to experience symptoms of ‘long covid’. New findings from the U.K. government have reported data of children experiencing long-term symptoms after COVID-19 infection. This research provides a detailed description of COVID-19 in children ages 5 to 17 years old.

Researchers analyzed data from nearly 2,000 children who tested positive close to the onset of symptoms and whose traits were regularly reported until they were healthy again.

The findings indicate that the most common symptoms in children were headaches, fever, tiredness, sore throat, and loss of smell.

“Studies like this one are terribly important for informing the medical community about the natural history of COVID in children,” Dr. Michael Grosso, the chief medical officer in Long Island, New York, told Health line. “So that we can distinguish the expected from the unexpected and provide meaningful guidance to the families of affected children.”

The symptoms are:

• abdominal pain
• vomiting
• bloodshot eyes
• pain in the chest
• extreme fatigue

Other recent studies demonstrate that children hospitalized with COVID-19 are at significantly increased risk of COVID-related inflammatory disease (MIS-C), which is related to organ damage and neurological issues.