Women with heart problems who contract Covid are more likely to suffer persistent symptoms, new research suggests.
Scientists found that it took people an average of 20 days to recover after contracting the virus between 2020 and 2023.
But more than one in five adults took more than three months to recover, a phenomenon now better known as long Covid.
The researchers, who followed more than 40,000 Americans who had been infected with the virus, also found that women were at higher risk of developing persistent Covid symptoms despite having fewer severe infections.
This comes after Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner’s daughter Violet revealed today that she contracted a post-viral illness in 2019 while calling for “mask mandates” in medical facilities in an impassioned speech to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
Violet said she “saw firsthand” that medicine doesn’t always have answers to the “consequences of even minor viruses.”
Violet, who is often seen wearing a face mask, shared her experience of contracting “a post-viral illness” in 2019; seen with Affleck and stepmother Jennifer Lopez in 2023
The 18-year-old urged the junta to “confront the long Covid crisis” by strengthening pandemic-era protections in hospitals and government buildings.
US officials suggest that one in ten people who contract the virus will develop long Covid, while one in ten will developIt is reported that around two million people in the UK are living with the disease.
Symptoms range from fatigue and shortness of breath to muscle and joint pain.
In the new study, researchers analyzed data from more than 4,700 adults, 61 years old on average, who were asked to report how long it took them to recover after infection.
All were enrolled in the study between April 2020 and February 2023.
They found that those who fought the infection at home had an average recovery time of 33 days.
In comparison, hospitalized patients spent 58 days recovering.
People who received the Covid vaccine were about 70 percent less likely to spend more than three months recovering.
Writing in the diary JAMA Network OpenThe researchers also said: “Although studies have suggested that many patients with long Covid experience mental health problems, we did not find that depressive symptoms prior to Covid infection were a major risk factor for long Covid.”
Professor Elizabeth Oelsner, associate professor of medicine at Columbia University, added: “Our study underlines the important role that Covid vaccination has played, not only in reducing the severity of an infection, but also in reducing the risk of long Covid.
‘It clearly establishes that long COVID imposed a substantial personal and societal burden.
“By identifying who is likely to have experienced a prolonged recovery, we better understand who should participate in ongoing studies on how to lessen or prevent the long-term effects of COVID infection.”
This comes as Violet Affleck, the eldest daughter of the Argo director, 51, and 13 Going on 30 star Jennifer Garner, 52, today detailed her experience of contracting “a post-viral condition” in 2019.
Addressing the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, he said he “saw firsthand” that medicine does not always have answers to the “consequences of even minor viruses.”
He added: “They must expand the availability of free, high-quality testing and treatment, and most importantly, the county must oppose mask bans for any reason. They do not make us safer.”
“They make vulnerable members of our community less safe and make everyone less able to participate together in Los Angeles.”
The term “long Covid”, which is often self-diagnosed, was coined to refer to a range of post-Covid symptoms, which can persist for months or even years after the initial infection. Around 1.9 million people in the UK are reported to have it, and the term covers everything from fatigue and shortness of breath to muscle and joint pain.
The JN.1 variant, dubbed Juno, has been dominant in the United Kingdom and the United States for the past few months.
Covid cases have continued to rise slowly across the UK in recent weeks, after infection rates declined during the spring.
Health chiefs have already issued an alert about a variant, dubbed FLiRT, which they had begun monitoring.
Virologists are using the term FLiRT to describe a family of different variants: KP.2, KP.3, JN.1.7, JN.1.1 and KP.1.1. All are descendants of Juno.
But ministers have repeatedly said they will not resort to imposing lockdowns unless an apocalyptic variant emerges.
A wall of immunity among the population, built by repeated waves of infection and vaccination campaigns, has given officials the confidence to relegate pandemic-era measures to the past.
Spikes in Covid cases could still cause mass illness across the country, causing chaos in schools, the health service and public transport.
Officials are also no longer tracking the prevalence of the virus in the same way they used to, as part of the government’s return to pre-Covid normality.