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Long Covid is keeping significant numbers of people out of work, study finds

nytimes.com

41–50 of 182 posts

Re: Long Covid is keeping significant numbers of people out of work, study finds

#41
post #18

A lot of the symptoms of “Long COVID” are exactly the same as depression and anxiety symptoms. Brain fog, fatigue, muscle weakness: anyone who has ever had depression knows what this is like. Of course there are a small number of people who had severe illness from COVID and had to be hospitalized, and the road to recovery for them is quite long, but most people claiming that they suffer from Long COVID are not the on…

Brain fog, fatigue, muscle weakness: anyone who has ever had depression knows what this is like. I've had depression and I've had depressed friends. None of us ever had those symptoms.

Were you clinically diagnosed? It is quite common for people suffering from depression to not even be able to get out of bed in the morning.

Re: Long Covid is keeping significant numbers of people out of work, study finds

#42

Personal anecdote: I'm going through some mental issues as a result of my divorce and I have trouble staying motivated at work. It's incredibly tempting to claim that I'm suffering from long COVID as an excuse instead of a mental health issue. I wonder how many people are just using it as a convenient excuse?

The data here is worker's comp claims, so there's a financial incentive at stake.

Re: Long Covid is keeping significant numbers of people out of work, study finds

#43
post #18

A lot of the symptoms of “Long COVID” are exactly the same as depression and anxiety symptoms. Brain fog, fatigue, muscle weakness: anyone who has ever had depression knows what this is like. Of course there are a small number of people who had severe illness from COVID and had to be hospitalized, and the road to recovery for them is quite long, but most people claiming that they suffer from Long COVID are not the on…

I don't see how anyone can deny the risks inherent to getting a shot. However insignificantly low you can demonstrate the possibility of side-effects from the vaccine are, the risks associated with actually getting covid were just as low.

Given the vaccine isn't even preventing covid now, you're only compounding your risk by getting it. This is undeniable no matter what you think about vaccines, mandates, etc.

Re: Long Covid is keeping significant numbers of people out of work, study finds

#44
post #18

A lot of the symptoms of “Long COVID” are exactly the same as depression and anxiety symptoms. Brain fog, fatigue, muscle weakness: anyone who has ever had depression knows what this is like. Of course there are a small number of people who had severe illness from COVID and had to be hospitalized, and the road to recovery for them is quite long, but most people claiming that they suffer from Long COVID are not the on…

I generally think that mental illness is on par with physical illness, to the degree that you can differentiate them. If it’s worth our time to worry about one, it’s worth our time to worry about the other.

Re: Long Covid is keeping significant numbers of people out of work, study finds

#45
post #18

A lot of the symptoms of “Long COVID” are exactly the same as depression and anxiety symptoms. Brain fog, fatigue, muscle weakness: anyone who has ever had depression knows what this is like. Of course there are a small number of people who had severe illness from COVID and had to be hospitalized, and the road to recovery for them is quite long, but most people claiming that they suffer from Long COVID are not the on…

Brain fog, fatigue, muscle weakness: anyone who has ever had depression knows what this is like. I've had depression and I've had depressed friends. None of us ever had those symptoms.

I too have had depression and I have also had depressed friends. All of us have had those symptoms.

Re: Long Covid is keeping significant numbers of people out of work, study finds

#46
post #23

Related: "Long Covid: major findings, mechanisms and recommendations" (207 comments, 12 days ago): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34375735

Awesome. We know a lot more about Long Covid than many people seem to think. This is a good summary of where we are.

Re: Long Covid is keeping significant numbers of people out of work, study finds

#47
Apparently Long Flu also happens to a certain number of people. I wonder if these people with long covid would have been just as susceptible to getting these symptoms with the flu or other diseases? Maybe there are relevant biomarkers for both?

Re: Long Covid is keeping significant numbers of people out of work, study finds

#48
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like if our society had UBI (Universal Basic Income) we wouldn't have to worry so much over cases like this - people would be able to get by, it wouldn't be a crisis for so many individuals.

Our Covid response really hurt the case for UBI. It turns out, when people are paid to stay at home and not work, even for a short period of time, we get high inflation and product shortages.

Which is frustrating.

Being paid to not work is just as conditional as being paid to work.

People are incentivized to meet the condition. Paying them to not work means they are incentivized to not work!

Re: Long Covid is keeping significant numbers of people out of work, study finds

#49
post #18

A lot of the symptoms of “Long COVID” are exactly the same as depression and anxiety symptoms. Brain fog, fatigue, muscle weakness: anyone who has ever had depression knows what this is like. Of course there are a small number of people who had severe illness from COVID and had to be hospitalized, and the road to recovery for them is quite long, but most people claiming that they suffer from Long COVID are not the on…

Calling it 'exactly the same' is doing a lot of heavy lifting. I've struggled on and off with depression and the symptoms people report for long covid are not at all like those I or others with depression I've talked to. General fatigue/exhaustion for example doesn't mean I quickly run out of breath when doing normal activities or struggle to do tasks I normally took for granted.

Perhaps you and I have had different experiences with depression. For me, basic physical activity is completely exhausting when I am going through a depressive episode.

Re: Long Covid is keeping significant numbers of people out of work, study finds

#50
post #14

This will be extremely interesting to see play out. Unless I'm mistaken, there isn't a "testable" marker to determine/backup if people are still experiencing Covid symptoms. Insurance companies aren't going to want to play nice for both treatment and disability payouts, but the number of people with the condition is likely too large to sweep under the rug as might normally occur. I have no idea how things will go, bu…

It seems like if our society had UBI (Universal Basic Income) we wouldn't have to worry so much over cases like this - people would be able to get by, it wouldn't be a crisis for so many individuals.

I'm pretty open to UBI but dont really see how that would be the case here.

Let's say someone (who also has an illness like diabetes) has two children and isnt able to work for five years because of long covid. Will the UBI payments be high enough to support them and their children? Or would higher payments be needed to support for them? Would they get a different UBI as a single dude in his 40s?

If so that's fine - but then it just seems like its welfare not UBI.

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