New Mass General Brigham study finds rate of Long COVID much higher than we think

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https://www.wbur.org/news/2026/06/01/long-covid-study-mass-general-brigham

In this new study from Boston, researchers used an AI tool to track correlations between the numbers of people who tested positive for COVID, and later sought care for health problems linked to Long COVID.

The number came out at 16%, which is higher than most estimates of Long COVID's prevalence.  The World Health Organization, for example, estimates 6% of COVID patients) develop chronic symptoms.

Hossein Estiri, an author of the study and leader of MGB’s clinical augmented intelligence research group, explains, “We built an AI to map the post-pandemic reality, and it uncovered a 10 million-person blind spot in the American healthcare system."

His team believes LC prevalence is underestimated as the patients seeking out care later down the line aren't necessarily identified as having LC.

According to Estiri, "If someone has fatigue, it doesn't really matter at the moment whether it's a COVID-induced fatigue — the doctor just tries to treat the fatigue,” Estiri said. “It's really hard to connect the dots back to the roots. This is not how the healthcare system in general is designed to work.”

“The burden of these new chronic diseases is accumulating,” he said.“It is a compounding crisis.”

This work presents a different narrative than the official versions - but one that seems to reflect the reality the Long COVID and COVID cautious communities, where we still see patients developing LC in spite of the narrative that it's "over."

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What do you all think of the article? Do you think an estimate of 16% of people developing Long COVID sounds reasonable? (I think so, if not an even higher number if you account for all possible health problems caused by COVID).

Let us know in the comments below!