text: Long Term Symptoms Among Adults Tested for SARS CoV 2 United States January 2020 April 2021 Long term symptoms often associated with COVID 19 post COVID conditions or long COVID are an emerging public health concern that is not well understood Prevalence of post COVID conditions has been reported among persons who have had COVID 19 range 5 80 with differences possibly related to different study populations case definitions and data sources 1 Few studies of post COVID conditions have comparisons with the general population of adults with negative test results for SARS CoV 2 the virus that causes COVID 19 limiting ability to assess background symptom prevalence 1 CDC used a nonprobability based Internet panel established by Porter Novelli Public Services to administer a survey to a nationwide sample of U S adults aged 18 years to compare the prevalence of long term symptoms those lasting 4 weeks since onset among persons who self reported ever receiving a positive SARS CoV 2 test result with the prevalence of similar symptoms among persons who reported always receiving a negative test result The weighted prevalence of ever testing positive for SARS CoV 2 was 22 2 95 confidence interval CI 20 6 23 8 Approximately two thirds of respondents who had received a positive test result experienced long term symptoms often associated with SARS CoV 2 infection Compared with respondents who received a negative test result those who received a positive test result reported a significantly higher prevalence of any long term symptom 65 9 versus 42 9 fatigue 22 5 versus 12 0 change in sense of smell or taste 17 3 versus 1 7 shortness of breath 15 5 versus 5 2 cough 14 5 versus 4 9 headache 13 8 versus 9 9 and persistence 4 weeks of at least one initially occurring symptom 76 2 versus 69 6 Compared with respondents who received a negative test result a larger proportion of those who received a positive test result reported believing that receiving a COVID 19 vaccine made their long term symptoms better 28 7 versus 15 7 Efforts to address post COVID conditions should include helping health care professionals recognize the most common post COVID conditions and optimize care for patients with persisting symptoms including messaging on potential benefits of COVID 19 vaccination 