A year after contracting COVID-19, 6% of workers were still receiving medical care due to the effects of long-term COVID, according to a new study from Workers Compensation Research Institute (WCRI).
This study expands prior evidence from early in the pandemic, showing persistent rates of long COVID infections through 2021.
“Our main takeaways for workers’ compensation policymakers and stakeholders are that long COVID continued to affect a meaningful share of workers with COVID-19 infections, and that was an important driver of claim costs,” said Ramona Tanabe, CEO of WCRI, in a statement. "At an average of 18 months of post-infection experience, these workers received more than 20 weeks of temporary disability benefits and received about $29,000 in medical care.”
The study, Long COVID in the Workers' Compensation System in 2020 and 2021, provides insights into workers’ recoveries from COVID-19. The study addresses the following questions:
What is the prevalence of long COVID among workers with COVID-19?
What are the costs of long COVID claims?
What is the duration of temporary disability benefits among workers with long COVID?
What are the industry and worker characteristics associated with long COVID?
How do rates of long COVID vary across states?
The analysis includes COVID-19 cases reported with a date of infection between March 2020 and September 2021. For each claim, we collected information on medical care and income benefits that were provided through the end of March 2022, across 31 states.