“I just can’t do what I used to.”

As pulmonologists and critical care doctors treating patients with lung disease, we have heard many of our patients recovering from COVID-19 tell us this — even months after their initial diagnosis.

Although they may have survived the most life-threatening phase of their illness, they have yet to return to their pre-COVID-19 baseline, struggling with activities, ranging from strenuous exercise to doing laundry.

These lingering effects, called long COVID, have affected as many as one in five adults in the US diagnosed with COVID-19.