Condition rating guideInfectious Diseases

Post-COVID Condition (Long COVID)

Lasting symptoms after a COVID-19 infection that continue for months. Common symptoms include extreme fatigue, brain fog, shortness of breath, and body aches. The VA rates long COVID under the chronic fatigue syndrome criteria or by each specific residual condition.

Diagnostic code: 6354
Rating range: 0–100%
Rating levels: 6

How the VA rates this

The VA rates this condition based on how much it affects your ability to work and carry out daily activities. The examiner will focus on the functional limitations your condition causes, not just the diagnosis itself.

Rating levels

38 CFR 4.88a, DC 6354 (analogous)

You have constant, severe post-COVID symptoms that prevent you from working or caring for yourself. Your daily life is almost completely restricted.

What the VA looks for

Near-total restriction of daily activities
Occasional inability to perform self-care
Cannot maintain gainful employment
Multiple organ systems affected (lungs, heart, brain)
Debilitating post-exertional malaise
Documented progression over time

The criteria, word for word

Which are nearly constant and so severe as to restrict routine daily activities almost completely and which may occasionally preclude self-care

Plain-language summary of 38 CFR 4.88a, DC 6354 (analogous) — not a substitute for the regulatory text. Always consult a VSO or VA-accredited attorney for case-specific advice.

Where these claims lose points

PITFALL 01
Not establishing the initial COVID-19 infection with a positive test result — get copies of your PCR or antigen test, and if unavailable, a doctor can document clinical diagnosis.
PITFALL 02
Filing only under CFS criteria when you have specific organ damage — post-COVID lung scarring, heart inflammation, and neurological conditions should each be claimed separately for potentially higher combined ratings.
PITFALL 03
Not maintaining a detailed symptom log comparing your current abilities to your pre-COVID baseline — this comparison is central to the rating criteria.
PITFALL 04
Waiting too long to file — document your symptoms as soon as they persist beyond the acute infection so there is a clear medical timeline.

Free tool · 38 CFR Part 4

Condition Rating Guides

The VA doesn’t rate a diagnosis — it rates what the diagnosis costs you. Every guide here walks the criteria level by level, in plain language, with the code and citation it comes from.

Guides
Prevalence data

Ordered by the number of rated disabilities VA counts in each category. VBA Annual Benefits Report, FY 2025. Where the report groups conditions together, or reports a category under a different diagnostic code than the guide we seat there, the rank is our approximation.

Rating ranges are the levels each diagnostic code allows — not an estimate for any one veteran, and not a combined rating. A single figure means the code has one evaluation and no ladder. Any code can also be assigned 0% when its requirements are not met (38 CFR § 4.31), and a 0% code can still carry special monthly compensation (38 CFR § 3.350).

Post-COVID Condition (Long COVID)

How the VA rates this

Rating levels

100%You have constant, severe post-COVID symptoms that prevent you from working or caring for yourself.

60%You have severe post-COVID symptoms that are nearly constant and limit your daily activities to less than 50% of what you could do before.

40%You have post-COVID symptoms that are nearly constant and limit your daily activities to 50-75% of what you could do before.

20%You have post-COVID symptoms that are nearly constant and limit your daily activities by up to 25% compared to before your infection.

10%You have post-COVID symptoms that come and go, such as fatigue and occasional brain fog, but they are manageable.

0%Your post-COVID symptoms are documented, but in the past year they have not produced at least one full week of incapacitation — which under DC 6354 means only bed rest and treatment prescribed by a licensed physician — and they are not controlled by continuous medication.

Where these claims lose points

Related conditions

Post-COVID Condition (Long COVID)

How the VA rates this

Rating levels

100%You have constant, severe post-COVID symptoms that prevent you from working or caring for yourself.

60%You have severe post-COVID symptoms that are nearly constant and limit your daily activities to less than 50% of what you could do before.

40%You have post-COVID symptoms that are nearly constant and limit your daily activities to 50-75% of what you could do before.

20%You have post-COVID symptoms that are nearly constant and limit your daily activities by up to 25% compared to before your infection.

10%You have post-COVID symptoms that come and go, such as fatigue and occasional brain fog, but they are manageable.

0%Your post-COVID symptoms are documented, but in the past year they have not produced at least one full week of incapacitation — which under DC 6354 means only bed rest and treatment prescribed by a licensed physician — and they are not controlled by continuous medication.

Where these claims lose points

Related conditions