Long COVID Keeps People Out of Work and Hurts the Economy
www.yalemedicine.org
Millions of Americans are struggling to return to work months after their initial bout with COVID-19, and the economic toll is staggering.

Long COVID isn’t just a health issue—it’s hitting wallets and workplaces hard. Millions of Americans are struggling to return to work months after their initial infection, and the economic toll is staggering as governments and employers scramble to address this growing challenge.

“It’s a myth to assume this data reflects issues limited to unvaccinated individuals, retiring adults, or people with pre-existing medical conditions,” says Arjun Venkatesh, MD, professor of emergency medicine at Yale School of Medicine and the primary author of the study. “Our cohort tends to be younger and highly vaccinated, yet the reality is that they continue to have prolonged symptoms after an acute COVID infection, which significantly affects their ability to work.”

By keeping so many people out of the workforce, Long COVID has a significant impact on the economy, too. Researchpublished in Nature Medicine estimates that over 400 million people worldwide have developed Long COVID at some point, resulting in an annual global economic cost of $1 trillion.

“It’s difficult to conceptualize what $1 trillion really means,” says Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, chief of Research and Development Service at Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System and the study’s senior author. “It’s about 1% of the global GDP and that’s significant. That 1% loss of the total productivity of all humans around the world is a significant drag on progress and economic expansion.”

  • HasturInYellow@lemmy.world
    44·
    5 days ago

    Yes, that is exactly the problem with long COVID. Reduced production and profits. Not that people are genuinely suffering. No, no. The money. Yes that’s it.

    • mox@lemmy.sdf.org
      10·
      5 days ago

      I think this is an important angle for bosses, investors, and legislators to digest. If they were made to understand the impact on profits and economy, they might not be so eager to push employees into work conditions that spread the disease.

      • FundMECFSResearchOP
        4·
        4 days ago

        Yeah. It’s the sort of article which will be incredibly useful for advocacy. Because Long COVID research doesn’t receive much funding and the incoming administration has said and I quote “we plan to dismantle to long COVID medical industrial complex” (ie. stop investing in long COVID research)

    • reddig33@lemmy.world
      7·
      5 days ago

      You know what else hurts profits and productivity? The lack of socialized medicine. Great for the middle man, but not much else.

  • TootSweet@lemmy.worldEnglish
    14·
    5 days ago

    I believe it. I’m lucky to have been working remotely and able to kinda-sorta keep working (at least enough not to raise suspicions or get fired or anything) once the worst of my long COVID exhausted all my sick days.

    I worked flat on my back with my laptop resting on my belly for months and I could barely manage that. So much as tenting my knees would worsen my symptoms which included things like chest pain, heart racing, vision changes, dizziness, light headedness, and lots of other unpleasant and scary things.

    Also, if you’re one of those assholes who nags folks to turn on their cameras on Zoom meetings, fuck you and the smug fucks from whom you inherited congenital self-righteousness. You have no fucking clue. “Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication.” I’d love to, <name censored to protect the guilty>, but I don’t think I can get my head that far up your ass with your head blocking it.

    (Unless you’re required to nag folks to turn on their cameras by your employer, in which case, fuck them and… well, try to go as easy on people about that as you can within your limited sphere of power.)