“To give a sense of the magnitude: If the long COVID population increases by just 10 percent each year, in 10 years, the annual cost of lost wages will be half a trillion dollars,” the report warned.
discovered that 22 p.c of individuals with lengthy COVID have been unable to work on account of sick well being, and one other 45 p.c needed to cut back hours labored.
“Since this report focuses on working-age Americans, we will use that group’s labor force participation rate of 75 percent. So, of the 16.3 million working-age Americans with long COVID , we can assume 12.2 million were in the labor force,” the findings confirmed.
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Utilizing the common US wage of $1,106 per week, the estimated 3 million individuals out of labor on account of lengthy COVID interprets to $168 billion a 12 months in misplaced earnings.
“This is nearly 1 percent of the total U.S. gross domestic product. If the true number of people out of work is closer to 4 million, that is a $230 billion cost,” the report talked about.
Harvard College economist David Cutler discovered that 12-17 per cent of Covid-19 sufferers are nonetheless experiencing three or extra signs 12 weeks after onset, and that the labor drive discount amongst these with vital impairment is 70 per cent.
Utilizing Covid-19 case counts and labor drive participation charges, Cutler estimated that 3.5 million persons are out of labor on account of lengthy Covid, for a five-year misplaced wage price of $1 trillion, or round $200 billion per 12 months.
“Critically, this number does not represent the full economic burden of long COVID, because it does not include impacts such as the lower productivity of people working while ill, the significant health care costs patients incur, or the lost productivity of caretakers,” stated the report.
Cutler estimated that medical care and misplaced high quality of life associated to lengthy COVID price a further $544 billion annually.
A current examine suggests vaccines cut back the chance of lengthy COVID by solely 15 p.c.
“While we don’t yet know the risk of contracting long COVID after repeat infections, one recent study found that every repeat infection increases the probability of long-term health consequences,” in accordance with the report.
There are no less than 5 vital authorities interventions that may cut back the financial burden of lengthy COVID: higher prevention and remedy choices, expanded paid sick depart, improved office lodging, wider entry to incapacity insurance coverage, and enhanced information assortment on lengthy COVID’s financial results.
Supply: IANS
