New study: Long Covid has cost the Australian economy billions in lost working hours
In summary:
According to a new study, economic productivity was lost by about $9.6 billion in 2022 due to Long Covid.
According to the researchers, this was equivalent to about a quarter of Australia’s real gross domestic product growth that year.
What happens next?
Some experts are calling on state governments, the federal government and policy makers to place greater focus on Long COVID.
Long COVID cost the Australian economy nearly $10 billion in lost working hours in 2022, according to a new study.
The study, published in the peer-reviewed Medical Journal of Australia, calculated the number of hours Australians were unable to work or had to reduce their working hours due to persistent COVID-19 symptoms 12 months after their diagnosis.
The study examined the number of COVID-19 infections between January 2022 and December 2023.
It found that as of September 2022, approximately 1.3 million Australians were living with Long COVID, including approximately 55,000 children aged four and under.
How many hours were lost due to Long-COVID?
The researchers examined wastewater monitoring data from more than 5,000 working adults and developed a mathematical model to calculate the number of persistent COVID-19 symptoms.
The study included adults whose symptoms lasted between three and twelve months, as well as those who never recovered from their illness and whose symptoms lasted for more than a year.
Quentin Grafton, a professor at the Australian National University and an economics specialist, was involved in the study. He said around 100 million working hours were lost.
More than 50 percent of the total labor loss was among workers between the ages of 30 and 49.
“This not only impacts the people who have long Covid, but also the people who care for them and their families and friends. It impacts the entire economy,” he said.
“When we talk about 10 billion, that’s kind of a mid-range estimate for the losses in Australia, that’s almost $400 per person.”
Professor Grafton said governments, policy makers and businesses must take much greater responsibility because the costs of Long Covid are far greater than creating better conditions.
“The costs are not large and not insignificant, but they are less than the costs we are currently incurring from Long Covid,” he said.
“In my opinion, the basic economic cost-benefit analysis shows us that it makes sense from a social perspective, from a health perspective, from a public health perspective. It’s time for decision makers to take action.”
What are some solutions?
Researchers have estimated that by December this year, between 173,000 and 873,000 Australians are likely to still be living with Long COVID one year after their initial infection – not including reinfection.
The study was led by Professor Raina MacIntyre of the University of New South Wales, a specialist in epidemiology.
She said it was time for a more nuanced policy regarding the coronavirus and its long-term impacts.
“I think the long-term impact will not be good if we don’t change course,” she said.
“Encourage more people to get vaccinated, allow wider access to antiviral drugs, take measures like safe indoor air seriously… look at situations where we need to wear masks, such as in hospitals and clinical areas.”
Professor MacIntrye also stressed the need for better vaccination policies for children.
Vaccination is not currently recommended for Australian children under five years of age, except for children with medical conditions that “increase the risk of severe COVID-19 disease”.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends COVID-19 vaccination for everyone six months of age and older.
“COVID-19 is the leading cause of infectious death in children around the world, and in countries that collect good data, like the United States, you can see that it is bigger than the flu,” she said.
“In children, this is no small matter. It is a serious infection.”
She said there are simple ways to minimize the risk of COVID-19 infection.
“Use an air purifier, which is not very expensive, or open a window if there is a window that can be opened, or wear a mask,” she said.
“A lot of people just say that most people recover from Long COVID. Well, you have to look at it from a population health perspective. Even if only 2 percent of people have Long COVID, that’s a huge public health burden.”
