Researchers are reporting that some people who contracted coronavirus and only had a mild case, suddenly took a turn for the worse after they thought they had made a full recovery. Long COVID is very unpleasant, with symptoms like heart palpitations, headaches and cognitive issues. There are at least 7 million cases of long COVID in the U.S. alone, and research has shown that it is more prevalent in people in their 30’s and 40’s, when they are in the prime of their careers. Many have left the workforce. “We’ve got to, as a nation, recognize that the majority of people will be of working age, and we need to facilitate these guys working in an environment that allows them to recover while working,†Fauzia Begum, an occupational health doctor for Britain’s National Health Service, told The New York Times. If you don’t do that, you end up in a position where you have a lot of people who are off work,†he said. A study published by the Brookings Institution found that long COVID could account for 15% of the millions of unfilled jobs in the United States. Since there is no single test for diagnosing long COVID, many of these people have to forgo unemployment and disability benefits.
