As widespread as Omicron infections are now, one silver lining is that the variant seems to cause milder disease in most people. (It can still cause serious enough illness to require hospitalization, but mostly for those with weakened immune systems and among older people, according to the latest data.) Now, there’s early evidence suggesting that Omicron variants may be less likely to lead to Long COVID—a lingering constellation of symptoms, such as fatigue, shortness of breath, anxiety, and depression, that continue to plague people post-virus.
In the latest study on the issue, researchers in Switzerland found the following among a group of health care workers:
- Over the 18 months they were studied, people infected with Omicron did not report more symptoms following their infection than people who had not been infected.
- Among those who were infected with the original SARS-CoV-2 variant, 67% reported continued symptoms 18 months after their infection.
- Getting Omicron after being infected with the original virus didn't change people's risk of reporting Long COVID symptoms compared to those who were just infected once with the original virus.
