Find answers to questions about RECOVER

Research findings are available on the RECOVER Publications page and in the Research Summaries section. When new RECOVER studies are published, we share them on this website and through other NIH channels.

We also work with providers, patients, caregivers, researchers, other federal agencies, and organizations to:

• connect survivors of PASC and Long COVID with research sites where they can join a study;
• connect people who have PASC and/or Long COVID with experts to share their experiences in the search for answers about these conditions; and
• share what we're learning and help create connections between researchers, participants, and studies to quickly understand, prevent, and treat PASC, including Long COVID.

People leading RECOVER studies are experts in many areas of clinical care, research, and science. They work together with participants to gather information about the ongoing health effects people are experiencing.

This information comes from clinical exams, health records, medical reports, records on the cause of death, and samples from human body tissue. The information is collected and stored securely in a set of data storage systems in a way that protects privacy and patient information.

Researchers and scientists across the country analyze the information so that we can quickly learn what’s needed to prevent and treat Long COVID.

We’re finished planning the full research protocols for RECOVER observational studies. Keep in mind that the study plans may change over time as we learn more. If the protocols change, we’ll update them on the RECOVER website, recoverCOVID.org.

View protocols for the adult and pediatric observational studies and human tissue (autopsy) study.

Clinical trial protocols are complete for RECOVER-NEURO and RECOVER-VITAL. When additional clinical trials begin enrollment, the protocols for those trials will be posted to trials.recoverCOVID.org.

View the RECOVER-NEURO protocol (PDF, 966KB).
View the RECOVER-VITAL protocol (PDF, 2.0MB).

We’ll share summaries of these plans in words that will make sense to more people. This way, scientists and people around the world can:

• view them
• ask questions
• share ideas
• work together to make the research better

We’ll also share the study plans with the people taking part in the RECOVER study (called study participants). Families, loved ones, caregivers, local support groups, or anyone else can look at the study plans. For the clinical trials, plain language patient information brochures and flyers are available on each trial page.

Currently, many words are being used to describe what can happen to people's health after they have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus — the virus that causes COVID. It can be confusing when more than one word is used to mean the same thing, so we want to make it clear what these words mean.

What We Know: PASC, or post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2, refers to the effects that the virus causing COVID can have on the body after the initial part of the illness.

The term "post-acute" means that the symptoms happen after the initial part of the illness. The word "sequelae" means "consequence."

PASC is a term that scientists are using to mean the possible long-term consequences of an infection from the virus that causes COVID after the initial part of the illness is over.

For some people, symptoms last weeks or months after the early infection is over. You may hear this condition referred to as Long COVID. Other people can get new symptoms later, even if they didn't have symptoms at the beginning of the disease.

We are also learning about symptoms from people living with Long COVID and those who call themselves "long haulers," along with other terms that have come up.

Scientists are working hard to find out what symptoms can occur with Long COVID and why symptoms occur. Some people continue to have the symptoms they had when they were sick with COVID for weeks or months after they were first sick. Other people develop new symptoms later, even after they felt like they were no longer sick. Other people do not feel sick at all in the beginning, but show new symptoms weeks and months later.

Long COVID symptoms may happen in different parts of the body, like the lungs, heart, or brain. Many people have reported different types of symptoms like:

• problems breathing
• a hard time concentrating or a feeling of "brain fog"
• problems remembering things
• feeling anxious
• having a racing heart
• tiredness or weak muscles

Others have reported headaches, loss of smell and taste, cough, and fevers that come and go. Sometimes symptoms seem to go away for a while, but then they come back.

Doctors and scientists are working to figure out why these symptoms occur and if they will go away on their own or need medical treatment, but we do not have answers yet.

Long COVID can affect what a child is able to do during a day, like how they play or if they are able to go to school. Long COVID can also happen to any child, even if they had mild or no symptoms during their COVID infection.

Research has shown that there are more than 40 symptoms of Long COVID in children and young adults. Children who have Long COVID can have any mix of symptoms, and the symptoms can affect different parts of the body.

Long COVID in children and young adults can involve the lungs, heart, stomach, and brain. Some common symptoms children may have include:

• Mood changes, including feeling sad, worried, angry, or easily upset
• Pain, including headaches, stomach pain, or muscle aches
• Loss of smell or change in taste and/or loss of appetite
• Skin rashes or mottled skin (a red or dark pattern on the skin)

Children with Long COVID may get tired more easily or have trouble sleeping, concentrating, or remembering things. Some children may have Long COVID symptoms that do not go away after their COVID infection. Some children may start to feel better and then start having symptoms.

If you think your child may have Long COVID, it is important to talk with their doctor. They may be able to help with your child's symptoms. Remember that different doctors may have different ways of working with families affected by Long COVID. If you still have questions about your child’s symptoms after talking to their regular doctor, you can make an appointment with another doctor and ask for their advice.

Learn more about how to get care for a child with Long COVID symptoms in our fact sheet, "Getting Ready to Talk about Long COVID with Your Child's Doctor" (PDF, 248 KB).

There may be millions of people with long-term effects from infection with the virus that causes COVID-19. When it comes to Long COVID and more broadly, PASC (post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection), there are more questions than answers. All people who have PASC, including Long COVID, can have different kinds of effects for different amounts of time.

We are working with participants in RECOVER research studies to understand the symptoms that people with Long COVID have. Learn more about some of the common symptoms and ways that people experience Long COVID on the What is Long COVID page. As we learn more, we will share what we know on the RECOVER website and through other channels. To stay up to date on symptoms and research findings, sign up for email updates.

Those working within RECOVER believe that this research could benefit not only people with Long COVID but also shed light upon other post-infection conditions like myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), dysautonomia, and others.

RECOVER studies will help the scientific community better understand the ways the virus affects the bodily organs and systems and why for many, the effects of SARS-COV-2 infection linger. These studies are involving experts in post-infection conditions and they may also teach us about other conditions and diseases with similar symptoms. View the list of post-infection illness experts working on RECOVER (PDF, 195 KB).

For more information about ME/CFS, the RECOVER Initiative, and Long COVID, view our FAQs: Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Fact Sheet (PDF, 82 KB).

On Tuesday, February 13, 2024, NIH Director Dr. Monica Bertagnolli issued a statement announcing that NIH will invest an additional $515 million to support the NIH RECOVER Initiative. Read more.

In December 2020, Congress appropriated $1.15 billion to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the long-term effects of COVID, including Long COVID. The NIH established the RECOVER Initiative in February 2021, and it has allocated funds provided through the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021 (Sec. 2401) to support this effort. RECOVER awards were made to more than 30 groups, including researchers from hospitals, health centers, and other places. These researchers, along with people affected by Long COVID and representatives from advocacy organizations, worked together to develop the main protocols that serve as the study plan for RECOVER studies. To help manage the administration of the RECOVER initiative, Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International was selected to serve as the initiative’s Administrative Coordinating Center (ACC).

In the summer of 2021, the NIH funded awards for the RECOVER Clinical Science Core (CSC) to New York University (NYU) Langone Health and the Data Resource Core (DRC) at Massachusetts General Hospital to develop and support a network of sites across the country to study Long COVID. The Clinical Recovery Cohort Studies, led by the CSC, include more than 200 researchers from more than 25 institutions with hundreds of sites that are actively engaged in community outreach and engagement to recruit a diverse representation of adults, pregnant people, children, and adolescents to take part in the studies. The DRC manages RECOVER data and biological samples to enable tracking and searchability across all data sources and provides expertise in statistical analyses and data standardization, access, and sharing. Read the press release describing this award.

In August 2022, the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI) was named as the RECOVER Clinical Trials Data Coordinating Center (CT-DCC) to develop and implement large-scale national research studies aimed at understanding and improving the treatment of the most burdensome symptoms of Long COVID. As the data coordinating center, DCRI is partnering with RTI International, the RECOVER ACC, to design clinical trials to explore possible treatments for Long COVID. The CT-DCC supports platform protocols designed to simultaneously test multiple possible treatments for Long COVID including drugs, cognitive interventions, devices, and other therapies. RECOVER clinical trials began enrolling patients in August 2023. Read the news release describing the RECOVER Clinical Trials launch.

Of the $1.15 billion appropriated to NIH in December 2020, the following awards have been made:

Observational Clinical Research Studies (overseen by the RECOVER Clinical Science Core (CSC) at New York University Langone Health):

• $540.3 million to support Clinical Recovery Cohort Studies (adult, pediatric, pregnancy [mother/baby pairs], and autopsy), pathobiology and ancillary studies, and real-world data analyses through EHR.

Data & Biospecimen Management and Analytics:

• $149 million to the RECOVER Data Resource Core (DRC) at Massachusetts General Hospital and the RECOVER Biorepository Core at the Mayo Clinic.

RECOVER Clinical Trials:

• $170.9 million to launch a suite of clinical trials through the Clinical Trials Data Coordinating Center (CT-DCC) at Duke Clinical Research Institute.

Administrative Coordination:

• $21.4 million to the Administrative Coordinating Center (ACC) at RTI International for administrative support to RECOVER. This includes management of data dashboards, working groups, patient engagement, and strategic communications.
• $16.4 million for longer-term follow up of critical health outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection leveraging a well-characterized, highly diverse, multi-generational, longitudinal, and community-based cohort-of-cohorts with in-depth phenotyping and omics.
• $69 million for continuing pathobiology studies: investigators to conduct research on the pathobiological mechanisms of PASC, including cross-disciplinary collaborations and analysis of data and samples collected from the RECOVER cohort to advance understanding of the pathogenesis of PASC.
• $120.9 million for continued clinical and laboratory follow-up of adult and pediatric longitudinal cohort participants and pathologic examination of tissues and organs to complete the observational studies.

Research Management Services:

• $35.7 million to support the NIH management of the RECOVER Initiative through specialized administrative and management technical expertise provided by Deloitte.

NIH Investigator-Initiated Studies, Data Storage and Security, and Other Research Services:

• $16.5 million for NIH investigator-initiated studies.
• $3.5 million for RECOVER data security.
• $4 million to protect the digital security of private information provided through electronic health records (as required by law).
• $1.8 million Veterans Administration (VA) collaboration for purchasing medicines for RECOVER clinical trials.
• $600K collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to leverage the Home Test to Treat program offering free testing, telehealth, and treatment for both COVID-19 and influenza (flu) through local pharmacies to ensure RECOVER’s reach to and recruitment of members in specific communities, including rural and remote areas across the country.

No. There has been no reduction to the $1.15 billion originally devoted to studying the long-term effects of COVID, and there has been no disruption of NIH activities.

A change did occur, however, in the primary funding source for RECOVER. After the initial funding, most of the funds were transferred to the Administration for Children and Families to cover COVID-related expenses of the Unaccompanied Children program at the Southwestern US border. RECOVER’s funding source then became the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act of 2021 (Sec. 2401). These ARP funds are administered by the NIH under delegated authority from the Department of Health and Human Services.

RECOVER observational, tissue pathology (autopsy), and clinical trial studies are underway at places across the country. RECOVER is working hard to include groups of people that reflect the nation's population. Different studies are enrolling different groups.

The groups for observational studies include adults, children and their caregivers, pregnant individuals, and newborn babies. View the locations of the different types of RECOVER observational and tissue pathology studies at studies.recoverCOVID.org.

RECOVER clinical trial studies are enrolling adult participants on a rolling basis. Learn more about RECOVER clinical trials at trials.recoverCOVID.org.

You can find a RECOVER observational study or tissue pathology (autopsy) study near you and volunteer to participate in that research at studies.recoverCOVID.org.

RECOVER clinical trials are enrolling now. Enrollment for these trials will be local and site-based, which means clinical research sites across the United States will identify and contact potential participants from their health systems and surrounding communities. Visit trials.recoverCOVID.org for more information about each trial and who can participate.

RECOVER observational studies are enrolling groups of people at sites across the country. You can see the study sites at studies.recoverCOVID.org.

RECOVER clinical trials are enrolling participants. Trials are planned to test more than 10 potential treatments for symptoms of Long COVID. Enrollment for these trials will be local and site-based, which means clinical research sites across the United States will identify and contact potential participants from their health systems and surrounding communities. Visit trials.recoverCOVID.org to find the ClinicalTrials.gov study records. These records will list the activated sites for each trial.

Study information from all the sites will be shared with all RECOVER researchers to help answer key questions faster. You can learn more about the different RECOVER studies on the Research Components page.

The goal of the RECOVER Initiative is to improve our understanding of the long-term effects of COVID, enable treatments for people affected by COVID, and find ways to prevent these long-term effects.

We want to include patients, caregivers, and community Representatives to help make plans for and provide suggestions on the research being done.

We also need to involve patients, caregivers, and community Representatives as partners in the research process to help frame research questions, promote participation in the RECOVER studies, and ensure that people from all communities and backgrounds are included.

You don’t need to be enrolled in a RECOVER study to be involved. For example, anyone can stay informed by signing up for email updates. Over the next several months, there will be more opportunities to learn about the research and hear about the study findings. Information will be posted on this site.

The National Community Engagement Group (NCEG) is central to RECOVER. NCEG provides a forum that promotes meaningful dialogue through authentic partnership and shared decision-making. The NCEG recognizes that equity and the experiences of patients, caregivers, and community Representatives are critical to address the long-term effects of COVID.

Members of the NCEG are part of the Executive Committee, Steering Committee, 12 RECOVER Task Force Committees, 6 RECOVER Oversight Committees, and the PASC Intervention Prioritization Panel. Other patients, caregivers, and community Representatives are engaging at local study sites and will contribute to developing RECOVER communication messages and materials.

The first groups of Representatives were nominated by researchers from RECOVER observational study sites and through input from other researchers working on different initiatives across NIH, such as the Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL). In the future, RECOVER will also consider people who nominate themselves to be Representatives.

If you are nominated to be a RECOVER Representative, you will be asked to fill out a brief survey online or over the phone about your:

• Experience with COVID and Long COVID
• Experience with research
• Experience with community-engaged work (professionally or personally)
• Description of why you want to be a Representative
• Description of how you hope to contribute to RECOVER
• Interest in joining RECOVER Task Force/Oversight Committees or other engagement opportunities
• Availability to attend meetings
• Information about your background including: age, gender identity, race/ethnicity, and where you live

A team from RECOVER reviews all survey responses for people who are nominated. Our goal is to include people with Long COVID and people from communities hardest hit by COVID.

We’ll include Representatives:

• from different backgrounds, including those who are of different races and ethnic groups, genders, ages, and education levels, and who live in different places
• who can talk about issues important for children and teens
• who can talk about issues related to human tissue donation
• who are and are not part of groups that advocate for and support people with Long COVID

Even if you are not picked to be a RECOVER Representative, there are many ways for you to help with the work of RECOVER. We will let you know about ways you can stay up to date about what is happening with RECOVER - including joining webinars and roundtables. Also, because people can be RECOVER Representatives for 2 years at most, we will be opening the nomination and survey process regularly. Therefore, if you are not selected in the first round there will be other chances for you to get picked. It is our hope that you will continue to be interested in working with us on the work of RECOVER.

If you have more questions about being a RECOVER Representative, please contact the RECOVER Administrative Coordinating Center (ACC), which coordinates RECOVER Representatives at RECOVER_REPS@rti.org.

To request agenda items for meetings of the RECOVER National Community Engagement Group (NCEG) or Representatives related to aspects of interest from internal RECOVER parties or for opportunities to engage NCEG on specific RECOVER matters, please send a request to RECOVER_REPS@rti.org and include “NCEG and Representative Request” in the subject line.

The request should include the following information:

• Detailed Information on the nature of the request (e.g., wish to present to or inform Representatives, desire inputs from Representatives on specific RECOVER related matters, desire recommendation for representation in activities or on groups, etc.). If your request is related to a specific cohort (e.g. adults, children and teens, etc.), please indicate that as well.
• Level of priority (e.g., related to an upcoming event/activity/action, notice of a finding to be released, information on additional awards, etc.).
• Information about payment: Confirmation that there is payment available for the Representatives in this opportunity and if so, how much? Please note: the ACC is not responsible for payment outside the current governance structure.
• Any necessary materials or supporting documents for the request.
• The best point of contact for the request and their contact information.

A member of the RECOVER ACC Community Engagement Team will review your request and follow up in accordance with the priority level of the request.

RECOVER research is now being published. View current RECOVER research on the Publications page and learn about the latest science from RECOVER in a format that is easy to understand on the Research Summaries page.

Stay tuned to this website and sign up for email updates to be alerted when more study findings become available.

Right now, there are more questions about PASC and Long COVID than answers. RECOVER research is focused on rapidly getting answers to those questions. Learning more about how PASC affects our bodies and how to predict, prevent, and treat PASC, including Long COVID allows for more research and study ideas to evolve.

An example of this is with RECOVER clinical trials. NIH has asked researchers to share their study ideas and some of the most promising ideas are leading to specific types of studies called clinical trials. RECOVER clinical trials will test ways (like medicines and other therapies) to treat or prevent the long-term effects of COVID.

An important part of some RECOVER studies is that researchers will keep in touch with patients over a long period of time. For those studies, this allows RECOVER researchers to keep learning from participants over time and to adjust their study approaches as they understand more.

There are many different symptoms of Long COVID. You may need help from different types of doctors to treat your Long COVID symptoms and get the help you need. The types of doctors, or specialists, that can help might include cardiologists (heart doctors), pulmonologists (lung doctors), neurologists (brain and nervous system doctors), physical therapists, occupational therapists, or speech and language specialists. Some clinics now have many different specialists to treat patients with Long COVID.

Survivor Corps is a grassroots organization that keeps track of care centers that focus on taking care of people after they have COVID. You can find information about the care centers on their website (Post-COVID Care Centers — Survivor Corps). More clinics are joining this group every day. Your own doctor also may be able to help you find the right care for your needs.

Investigators and clinicians with research expertise and clinical experience with post-infection syndromes, ME/CFS, and other illnesses are contributing within the RECOVER Initiative and participating in the Initiative’s oversight committees and working groups.

The list currently represents only individuals who have confirmed their area(s) of expertise. However, the list is likely to expand as others confirm and as the Initiative continues, and we will update the list on this site. View the list of post-infection illness experts working on RECOVER (PDF, 195 KB).

For more information about ME/CFS, the RECOVER Initiative, and Long COVID, view our FAQs: Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) Fact Sheet (PDF, 82 KB).

Long COVID is a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) if it significantly limits one or more major "life activities" or "bodily functions." Some examples of life activities include caring for oneself, seeing, hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, speaking, breathing, thinking, and working. Some examples of bodily functions include the immune system, which fights infections; the heart and blood vessels; and the nervous system.

A health care provider will need to decide if a person's Long COVID condition or symptoms mean they have a disability.

You can learn more about disability coverage for Long COVID at this link from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

As the RECOVER Initiative changes, we will bring together and share the stories and experiences of people affected by PASC, including Long COVID. Stay informed about these events and the latest research findings by signing up for emails from NIH RECOVER.

The best way to protect yourself against long-term effects is to get vaccinated. Also, encourage your friends, family, and neighbors to get the vaccine. Here are ways you can find a COVID-19 vaccination site near you:

• Visit and search the Vaccines.gov website
• Text your zip code to 438829
• Call 1-800-232-0233