A new HHS report advocates for bringing back the mask mandate as a way of preventing people from experiencing persistent COVID-19 symptoms or “Long COVID.”
The federally commissioned report titled “Health + Long COVID” recommended that masking and social distancing should still be either encouraged or mandated in public spaces to “protect people from infection or reinfection and possible Long COVID.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines a Long COVID as experiencing symptoms for three months after their initial infection. Some of the symptoms of Long COVID are fatigue, brain fog, chronic pain, hair loss, cardiac impairment and altered sense of taste or smell.