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Possible risk of autism in children. Dormant cancer cells awakening. Accelerating aging of the brain.

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Federal officials in May 2023 declared an end to the national COVID pandemic. But more than two years later, a growing body of research continues to reveal information about the virus and its ability to cause harm long after initial infections resolve, even in some cases when symptoms were mild.

The discoveries raise fresh concerns about the Trump administration’s COVID policies, researchers say. While some studies show COVID vaccines offer protective benefits against longer-term health effects, the Department of Health and Human Services has drastically limited recommendations about who should get the shot. The administration also halted Biden-era contracts aimed at developing more protective COVID vaccines.

The federal government is curtailing such efforts just as researchers call for more funding and, in some cases, long-term monitoring of people previously infected.

“People forget, but the legacy of COVID is going to be long, and we are going to be learning about the chronic effects of the virus for some time to come,” said Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist who directs the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.

The Trump administration said that the COVID vaccine remains available and that individuals are encouraged to talk with their health providers about what is best for them. The COVID vaccine and others on the schedule of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention remain covered by insurance so that individuals don’t need to pay out-of-pocket, officials said.

“Updating CDC guidance and expanding shared clinical decision-making restores informed consent, centers parents and clinicians, and discourages ‘one size fits all’ policies,” said HHS spokesperson Emily Hilliard.

Although COVID has become less deadly, because of population immunization and mutations making the virus less severe, researchers say the politicization around the infection is obscuring what science is increasingly confirming: COVID’s potential to cause unexpected, possibly chronic health issues. That in turn, these scientists say, drives the need for more, rather than less, research, because over the long term, COVID could have significant economic and societal implications, such as higher health care costs and more demands on social programs and caregivers.

The annual average burden of the disease’s long-term health effects is estimated at $1 trillion globally and $9,000 per patient in the U.S., according to a report published in November in the journal NPJ Primary Care Respiratory Medicine. In this country, the annual lost earnings are estimated to be about $170 billion.

One study estimates that the flu resulted in $16 billion in direct health costs and $13 billion in productivity losses in the 2023-2024 season, according to a Dec. 30 report in medRxiv, an online platform that publishes work not yet certified by peer review.

COVID’s Growing Reach

Much has been learned about COVID since the virus emerged in 2019, unleashing a pandemic that the World Health Organization reports has killed more than 7 million people. By the spring of 2020, the term “long COVID” had been coined to describe chronic health problems that can persist post-infection.

More recent studies show that infection by the virus that causes COVID, SARS-CoV-2, can result in heightened health risks months to more than a year later.

For example, researchers following children born to mothers who contracted the virus while pregnant have discovered they may have an increased risk for autism, delayed speech and motor development, or other neurodevelopmental challenges.

Another study found babies exposed to COVID in utero experienced accelerated weight gain in their first year, a possible harbinger of metabolic issues that could later carry an increased risk for cardiovascular disease.

These studies suggest avoiding severe COVID in pregnancy may reduce risk not just during pregnancy but for future generations. That may be another good reason to get vaccinated when pregnant.

“There are other body symptoms apart from the developing fetal brain that also may be impacted,” said Andrea Edlow, an associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School who was involved in both studies. “We definitely need more research.”

Epidemiologists point to some specific, emerging challenges.

A U.K. study in the New England Journal of Medicine found people who fully recovered from mild COVID infections experienced a cognitive deficit equal to a three-point drop in IQ. Among the more than 100,000 participants, deficits were greater in people who had persistent symptoms and reached the equivalent of a nine-point IQ drop for individuals admitted to intensive care.

Ziyad Al-Aly, a clinical epidemiologist who has studied longer-term health effects from COVID, did the math. He estimated COVID may have increased the number of adults in the U.S. with an IQ of less than 70 from 4.7 million to 7.5 million — a jump of 2.8 million adults dealing with “a level of cognitive impairment that requires significant societal support,” he wrote.

“People get COVID-19, some people do fine and bounce back, but there are people who start experiencing problems with memory, cognition, and fuzzy brain,” he said. “Even people with mild symptoms. They might not even be aware.”

Diane Yormark, 67, of Boca Raton, Florida, can relate. She got COVID in 2022 and 2023. The second infection left her with brain fog and fatigue.

“I felt like if you had a little bit too much wine the night before and you’re out of it,” said Yormark, a retired copywriter, who said the worst of her symptoms lasted for about three months after the infection. “Some of the fog has lifted. But do I feel like myself? Not like I was.”

Data from more than a dozen studies suggests COVID vaccines can help reduce risk of severe infection as well as longer-lasting health effects, although researchers say more study is needed.

But vaccination rates remain low in the U.S., with only about 17% of the adult population reporting that they got the updated 2025-2026 shot as of Jan. 16, based on CDC data.

Trump administration officials led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have reduced access to COVID vaccines despite the lack of any new, substantiated evidence of harm. Though the shots were a hallmark achievement of the first Trump administration, which led the effort for their development, Kennedy has said without evidence that they are “the deadliest vaccine ever made.”

In May he said on X that the CDC would stop recommending COVID shots for healthy children and pregnant women, citing a lack of clinical data. The Food and Drug Administration has since issued new guidelines limiting the vaccine to people 65 or older and individuals 6 months or older with at least one risk factor, though many states continue to make them more widely available.

The Trump administration also halted almost $500 million in funding for mRNA-based vaccines. Administration officials and a number of Republicans question the safety of the Nobel Prize-winning technology — heralded for the potential to treat many diseases beyond COVID — even though clinical trials with tens of thousands of volunteers were performed before the COVID mRNA vaccines were made available to the public.

And numerous studies, including new research in 2025, show COVID vaccine benefits include a reduction in the severity of disease, although the protective effects wane over time.

Following the Findings

Researchers say more and broader support is important because much remains unknown about COVID and its impact on the body.

The growing awareness that, even in mild COVID cases, the possibility exists for longer-term, often undetected organ damage also warrants more examination, researchers say. A study published this month in eBioMedicine found people with neurocognitive issues such as changes in smell or headaches after infection had significant levels of a protein linked to Alzheimer’s in their blood plasma. EBioMedicine is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal published by The Lancet.

In the brain, the virus leads to an immune response that triggers inflammation, can damage brain cells, and can even shrink brain volume, according to research on imaging studies that was published in March 2022 in the journal Nature.

An Australian study of advanced brain images found significant alterations even among people who had already recovered from mild infections — a possible explanation for cognitive deficits that may persist for years. Lead study author Kiran Thapaliya said the research suggests the virus “may leave a silent, lasting effect on brain health.”

Al-Alay agreed.

“We don’t know what will happen to people 10 years down the road,” he said. “Inflammation of the brain is not a good thing. It’s absolutely not a good thing.”

That inflammatory response has also been linked to blood clots, arrhythmias, and higher risk of cardiovascular issues, even following a mild infection.

A University of Southern California study published in October 2024 in the journal Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology found the risk for a major cardiac event remains elevated nearly three years after COVID infection. The findings held even for people who were not hospitalized.

“We were surprised to see the effects that far out” regardless of individual heart disease history, said James R. Hilser, the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral fellow at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine.

COVID can also reactivate cancer cells and trigger a relapse, according to research published in July in the journal Nature. Researchers found that the chance of dying from cancer among cancer survivors was higher among people who’d had COVID, especially in the year after being infected. There was nearly a twofold increase in cancer mortality in those who tested positive compared with those who tested negative.

The potential of the COVID virus to affect future generations is yielding new findings as well. Australian researchers looked at male mice and found that those who had been infected with and then recovered from COVID experienced changes to their sperm that altered their offspring’s behavior, causing them to exhibit more anxiety.

Meanwhile, many people are now living — and struggling — with the virus’ after-effects.

Dee Farrand, 57, of Marana, Arizona, could once run five miles and was excelling at her job in sales. She recovered from a COVID infection in May 2021.

Two months later, her heart began to beat irregularly. Farrand underwent a battery of tests at a hospital. Ultimately, the condition became so severe she had to go on supplemental oxygen for two years.

Her cognitive abilities declined so severely she couldn’t read, because she’d forget the first sentence after reading the second. She also had to leave herself reminders that she is allergic to shrimp or that she likes avocados. She said she lost her job and returned to her previous occupation as a social worker.

“I was the person who is like the Energizer bunny and all of a sudden I’d get so tired getting dressed that I had to go back to bed,” Farrand said.

While she is better, COVID has left a mark. She said she’s not yet able to run the five miles she used to do without any problems.

©2026 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Amy Lindgren

We’re living in stressful times.

Is that an understatement? Hindsight will provide more perspective, but at the moment I think it’s safe to say the past month has been a stress-whopper, at least in Minnesota. Not that the last year or more were smooth sailing. Stress comes with change and as a nation, we’ve had plenty of that.

Job seekers have had plenty of change as well. In what feels like a nano-second, we’ve gone from a growing job market with abundant employment and generous hiring packages to an estimated 1.2 million layoffs in a single year, 2025.

So yes, there’s plenty to stress about if you’re a job seeker. I’d like to provide a few things not to stress about, just to balance the scales.

• The economy. OK, that’s counter-intuitive, since the economy is the big house we all live in. But you can’t control the economy, which means that stressing about it won’t help. What does help is staying informed enough to make logical decisions in terms of career paths, training and your choice of employers.

• Not hearing back from online applications. By now you’ve probably heard that online isn’t the most productive place to conduct your job search. People do get interviews and then hired from online postings, but not at the rate you’d expect from the endless array of want ads. Turns out some of those postings are fake, while others are sponsored by employers who believe that ghosting applicants is A-OK. None of this is under your control, except for the original decision to apply online. If you make this choice, find a middle ground for how much effort to put in. Then, let go of your expectations.

• Networking. I’m convinced people tumble into the cycle of applying for hundreds of jobs because networking feels even more stressful than being ghosted online. The stress points I hear seem centered on forms of rejection. Non-networkers worry they’ll be turned down for a meeting, that they’ll be seen as rude or pitiful for asking in the first place, that the person they meet won’t actually help them, and more.

This is a type of self-imposed stress, because none of these points are factual unless they actually happen. It may be hard to release these fears but that doesn’t mean you have to stress over them. Just accept that you’re uncomfortable, while recognizing that you’ll survive if people do reject you. Networking is one of those things that gets easier and more effective the longer you do it.

• Letting others know you’re unemployed. If you’re embarrassed or ashamed to tell others you’re out of work, you’re creating stress for yourself. Yes, some people might be heels but the majority have come to understand that being unemployed is a status, not a personality type. You can’t activate your network or find the unadvertised openings if no one knows you need a job. This is another stress you need to let go of, for your mental health as well as your job search.

Speaking of mental health, how’s yours? If it’s not super, you might need some proactive steps in addition to letting go of the stressors. Here are some tips that I frequently share with job seekers.

• 1. Take baby steps. Instead of chastising yourself for what you’re not accomplishing in your job search, break the tasks into smaller and smaller steps until you get to the size you can handle.

• 2. Revise your plan. If your transition is stuck, ask yourself: Does this need to happen right now? If it doesn’t, consider letting it go for the moment. Focus instead on ways to improve your career, such as training or networking, and pick up the job search later.

What if you can’t put off finding a job? In that case, consider going bold. Instead of trying for the “right” job, consider taking the “right now” job. Do this by asking yourself what job you could get almost immediately. If it would be better than nothing, take it and make it work, at least for the time being. Sometimes you just need to break the stalemate and move forward — because, to mix metaphors, a bicycle in motion is easier to steer.

• 3. Ask for help. The problem with mental health is that we don’t always recognize when we could use a hand. Sometimes we can’t figure out whom to ask, or what to ask for. This is a situation ready-made for internet research. By looking at trusted resources, you can gain understanding and then decide how to move forward. One place to start is the website for MentalHealthFirstAid.org. After you put that address into your browser, click the About section and scroll down to Mental Health Resources. You’ll find a well-segmented list of resources and ideas for different populations and issues.

Will these steps help? I hope so. We may be living in stressful times, but we can still find ways to reduce the stress we’re carrying. If these steps aren’t the ticket for you, keep working the problem until you find the ones that are.

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Amy Lindgren owns a career consulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com.

TESERO, Italy (AP) — Frida Karlsson of Sweden won gold at 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics in the 20-kilometer women’s skiathlon Saturday at the start of cross-country skiing on energy-draining wet snow.

Top-ranked Jessie Diggins of the United States fell in the early stages of the race and struggled throughout to fight her way forward as the Swedes held onto an early advantage. Karlsson clocked 53 minutes, 45.2 seconds, ahead of fellow Swede Ebba Andersson by 51 seconds and Heidi Weng of Norway who pushed hard before the finish, ending 1 minute and 26.7 seconds behind.

The 26-year-old Swedish winner appeared unfazed by the snow conditions and performed a flawless ski exchange in the twin-style race, losing chasers early and lapping many at the back. Confident in her finish Karlsson grabbed a large Swedish flag before crossing the line, hugging her teammate seconds later, cheered on by a large group of traveling fans.

“That was when the moment hit me. I was like, OK this is for real,” Karlsson , who previously won bronze medal in the relay at the Beijing Games four years ago, said after Saturday’s race. “I just had so much fun out there today and I am really proud of my whole team.”

At Milan Cortina, both men and women are competing over an equalized 20 kilometer distance for the first time at the Olympics. Competitors cover half the distance in classic technique before a gear switch mid‑race to finish in freestyle. The cloud-covered race on a Dolomite mountain course familiar to World Cup competitors was on soft snow conditions in a relatively warm 5 Celsius (41 Fahrenheit).

“It was tough conditions out there with very wet snow,” Andersson said. “So you have to be tough with your head and just try to keep up the pace even though you are really tired.”

Jessie Diggins fell on a bend in the classic stage of the race, and finished in 8th place after a late surge, 2 minutes, 21.1 seconds behind the leader. Diggins, racing in her final season, tumbled together with Norway’s Karoline Simpson-Larsen but said she was happy with the way performed in the second stage of the race.

“There’s a lot of the things outside of my control. It just didn’t work out for me today, but that’s OK,” Diggins said. “I was very proud of my heart and my grit and the amount of energy and commitment that I brought to, not just today, but every single day in the lead up to this.”

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At his introductory press conference Friday – a day after being dealt to Minnesota – new Timberwolves guard Ayo Dosunmu was asked to best describe his game.

“I would say someone that competes on both ends of the court, get out in transition, use my speed, push the pace, get guys involved, very efficient,” Dosunmu said. “I take pride in being an efficient basketball player, getting to the line, making my open shots, being aggressive. Always being aggressive at every mark of the game and try to leave my imprints on the game.”

When can you start?

That’s exactly what a currently flat Wolves team needs, as proven again in Friday’s 119-115 loss to the lowly Pelicans – Minnesota’s third straight defensive dud that left center Rudy Gobert calling for extreme measures of accountability.

If guys aren’t going to hold themselves to certain competitive standards, Gobert suggested Wolves coach Chris Finch take matters into his own hands via benchings.

“(Accountability) should start with ourselves, but it seems like we don’t have that,” Gobert said. “It’s not an easy position for a coach to take guys out of the game. It’s not something that you want to do, but I think if the players don’t show any effort, at some point, no matter how talented we are as a team, if you don’t have that, you just can’t be a winning team.

“Our best players, leaders, if we don’t show any effort, it doesn’t matter if you score 50, we’re not going to win. At some point, if we’re not mature enough to have that accountability ourselves, that might be a solution. And I guarantee you that when we come back onto the court, we’ll show effort.”

Friday was a rare night in which Gobert wasn’t much of a defensive solution for Minnesota. Zion Williamson dominated the game for the Pelicans – as he often seems to do at Target Center. The athletic phenom finished with 29 points on 11 for 13 shooting, with every single attempt coming in the paint. Timberwolves coach Chris Finch noted he wasn’t impressed with the team’s rim protection from Gobert or anyone else.

The general on-ball compete level wasn’t where it needed to be, nor was the game-plan discipline. New Orleans sharpshooter Trey Murphy made three triples in a 67 second span late in the third to pull the Pelicans back into the contest as Minnesota failed to take away his air space.

The Wolves are now 12-11 since Christmas. They’re surrendering 113.6 points per 100 possessions in that span, 15th in the NBA. What should be an elite trait for Minnesota is currently very average. In turn, that’s what the Wolves are as a collective.

“This is who we are as a team. We have to start understanding that,” Gobert said. “Our offense, of course it matters, but the barometer for success is our defense and our effort. And when we have that, we win almost every night. It’s insane how much like, when we just do that we win every night. So it’s crazy that we’re not able to just focus on that.

“The difference it’s straight effort, and it’s gonna be everybody. No one should get a pass for not playing defense.”

Even amid this milquetoast stretch of basketball, Timberwolves basketball boss Tim Connelly noted Minnesota still views itself as a team with a “puncher’s chance” of winning a championship. There is no runaway favorite in this year’s NBA, particularly given the league-wide swath of injuries.

So he pushed to make a move to improve the team at the trade deadline. Minnesota feels it got the perfect player in Dosunmu who can slide in as a bench scorer and, more importantly at the moment, an energetic defensive presence.

What the Wolves may need above all else at the moment is a shot in the arm. They’ll receive that Sunday when Dosunmu slides into the rotation against the Clippers.

“I’m really excited to have someone like that for us that just plays with energy, that just brings physicality,” Gobert said.

Opponents are shooting just 41.4% against Dosunmu this season – a mark that would lead the Wolves. Yet he feels he can be an “even better defender” in Minnesota.

“I think I showcased it some in Chicago, but I don’t think I showcased my full potential,” Dosunmu said. “I think I have definitely a lot more potential to be there and really becoming an elite two-way player, two-way guard in this league. That’s my goal.”

Wolves star Anthony Edwards knows Dosunmu’s defensive capabilities well. He’s been defended by the guard on numerous occasions.

“He’s super long,” Edwards said. “He don’t really jump at moves or pump fakes and stuff. He stay down and make you make tough shots over him. He’s super fundamental on that end.”

And he’s got an edge, something that can only help a Wolves team that currently lacks much bite.

“He’s from Chi-town, so he got some toughness to him,” Edwards said.

“We like that. We like competitive,” Finch said. “I don’t mind edginess. We definitely could use that. That’s what we want.”

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