Story at a glance
- The U.S. Bureau found 16.3 million Americans have long Covid today.
- Anywhere between 2 to 4 million are out of work because of the condition.
- If no policy interventions are taken to address long Covid, the economy could suffer greatly.
Up to 4 million Americans may be out of work due to long Covid and it carries steep economic repercussions for not just the U.S. economy but the productivity of working people.
The U.S. Census Bureau found 16.3 million working-age Americans have long Covid today and of those 2 to 4 million are out of work because of the condition.
Long Covid is defined as having symptoms of COVID-19 for at least 12 weeks after being infected with the virus and it comes in multiple forms — including respiratory symptoms and neurological problems like brain fog, poor memory and headaches.
The annual cost of wages lost to long Covid is around $170 billion a year and could potentially run as high as $230 billion.
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Researchers at the Brookings Institution analyzed Census Bureau data, along with other studies that looked at rates of people with long Covid, and found the loss of jobs is consistent with the current labor market shortages, like in education, transportation, food service, hospitality and health and social care industries.
Taking a closer look at wages, Brookings found that the average U.S. worker earns $1,106 per week, and if up to 4 million Americans are out of work due to long Covid, that translates to $230 billion a year in lost earnings — nearly 1 percent of the total U.S. gross domestic product.
“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,” said the report.
Harvard University economist David Cutler estimated that medical care and lost quality of life related to long Covid can cost an additional $544 billion each year.
The economic burden long Covid poses to the U.S. is steep and something Brookings researchers say will depend on three factors: availability and accessibility of improved treatment options, whether vaccines can reduce the odds of getting long Covid and whether repeat infections carry additional long Covid risk.
Currently, there is no standardized treatment for long Covid and recent studies suggest available COVID-19 vaccines only reduce the risk of it by 15 percent. It’s not yet known what the risk is of getting long Covid after repeat infections.
However, one study by researchers from the University of California, San Francisco found participants who took Pfizer’s Paxlovid COVID-19 treatment several weeks after testing positive for the virus had lessened long Covid symptoms.
“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,” said the Brookings report.
There is one thing that could ease the burden and help those Americans who continue to suffer from long Covid: policy interventions.
Though Congress hasn’t enacted any laws pertaining to long Covid, President Biden directed Health and Human Services to develop the first-ever interagency national research action plan on long Covid. The effort aims to progress prevention, diagnosis and treatment for people experiencing long Covid and associated conditions.
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