--- title: Most Children Don't Develop Long-Haul COVID After Infection description: A research team followed some 1,700 children who had a COVID-19 infection, and found that very few developed Long COVID symptoms. canonical: https://time.com/6087379/children-long-haul-covid/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-08-04T13:40:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T10:11:58.573Z article:section: Health og:title: Most Children Don't Develop Long-Haul COVID After Infection og:description: A research team followed some 1,700 children who had a COVID-19 infection, and found that very few developed Long COVID symptoms. og:url: https://time.com/6087379/children-long-haul-covid/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt205426212eb367cc/698a1ba0db2987dfec266c39/uk-covid-test.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: NHS Test And Trace COVID-19 Lateral Flow Test og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Most Children Don't Develop Long-Haul COVID After Infection twitter:description: A research team followed some 1,700 children who had a COVID-19 infection, and found that very few developed Long COVID symptoms. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt205426212eb367cc/698a1ba0db2987dfec266c39/uk-covid-test.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Most Children Don't Develop Long-Haul COVID After an Infection, According to a Large New Study > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=6a77dbdf-2fff-40fe-84f4-da6e05d544db&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Naomi Kresge / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Naomi Kresge / Bloomberg Contributor Aug 4, 2021 1:40 PM UTC  A secondary school pupil puts the swab into the extraction tube for a COVID-19 Lateral Flow test. Lateral Flow Device (LFD) kits were given to all secondary school pupils in England so they can test themselves twice a week at home on the 21st March 2021 in Folkestone, United Kingdom. (photo by Andrew Aitchison / In pictures via Getty Images) A secondary school pupil puts the swab into the extraction tube for a COVID-19 Lateral Flow test. Lateral Flow Device (LFD) kits were given to all secondary school pupils in England so they can test themselves twice a week at home on the 21st March 2021 in Folkestone, United Kingdom. (photo by Andrew Aitchison / In pictures via Getty Images) Andrew Aitchison—In pictures/Getty Images by [Naomi Kresge / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Naomi Kresge / Bloomberg Contributor Aug 4, 2021 1:40 PM UTC Most children who get COVID-19 recover within a week, according to [a large U.K. study](https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanchi/article/PIIS2352-4642%2821%2900198-X/fulltext) that may help soothe fears about whether kids who get sick will face the most protracted forms of the disease. Some 4.4% of 1,734 children with symptomatic COVID in the study experienced symptoms for longer than four weeks, most often fatigue, headaches and loss of smell, researchers said in _The Lancet Child and Adolescent Health_. The research team followed 250,000 children in the U.K., between five and 17 years old, between September of last year and Feb. 22\. “This data is reassuring to families, to parents, to teachers and to children who are affected,” said Emma Duncan, a professor of clinical endocrinology from King’s College London and lead author of the study. “Most children will get better with time.” The results come amid debate about how broadly to vaccinate teenagers. Thus far, U.K. authorities have said they’ll target only 12- to 17-year-olds with underlying health conditions for a COVID shot. Germany, in contrast, is seeking to give its slowing inoculation drive a boost by offering shots to all teenagers. The analysis was done before the fast-spreading delta variant had become dominant in the U.K., though the research team said data pertaining to delta in children has so far matched what was seen with earlier variants. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6087379/children-long-haul-covid/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6087379/children-long-haul-covid/"},"headline":"Most Children Don't Develop Long-Haul COVID After an Infection, According to a Large New Study","datePublished":"2021-08-04T13:40:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T10:11:58.573Z","description":"A research team followed some 1,700 children who had a COVID-19 infection, and found that very few developed Long COVID symptoms","url":"https://time.com/6087379/children-long-haul-covid/","keywords":["COVID-19","wire","bloomberg wire"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt205426212eb367cc/698a1ba0db2987dfec266c39/uk-covid-test.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Naomi Kresge / Bloomberg"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt205426212eb367cc/698a1ba0db2987dfec266c39/uk-covid-test.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"NHS Test And Trace COVID-19 Lateral Flow Test","caption":"NHS Test And Trace COVID-19 Lateral Flow Test","creditText":"Andrew Aitchison—In pictures/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/covid-19/","name":"COVID-19"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6087379/children-long-haul-covid/","name":"Most Children Don't Develop Long-Haul COVID After an Infection, According to a Large New Study"}}]}] ```