Two U.S. representatives wrote a letter asking the CDC to release information on long-term COVID-19 that includes data on race, gender and age, The Washington Post reported Jan. 25.
The CDC tracks COVID-19 infections but has not begun posting data on the number of people with long-term symptoms of the disease. However, the agency said it is conducting surveillance through surveys and health records to estimate how prevalent it is.
Some estimates say there are between 750,000 and 1.5 million Americans with long-term COVID-19 who are unable to work, the report said.
"We’re calling on the CDC to publicly report this data because that which gets measured gets done — and we can’t have an equitable recovery from this pandemic without it," read the letter, which was co-signed by Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Don Beyer of Virginia. "Further, we know that COVID-19 has disproportionately harmed certain communities more than others, and we suspect that Long COVID will mirror this trend."
The CDC and NIH are conducting studies on long COVID-19, but the results are not expected for years. The CDC did not immediately respond to the letter, according to the Post.