People with Long Covid work far fewer hours compared to before their infection

People suffering from Long Covid have much less paid employment than before they got infected. The percentage of people with salaried work in this group has dropped from 95 percent before their infection to 71 percent two years after it. The average number of work hours also dropped from 31 hours to 18 hours a week. In addition, 69 percent of this group have fallen behind in their studies.

The Erasmus MC hospital in Rotterdam collaborated with C-support, an organization that supports people with lengthy complaints from a coronavirus infection, to publish a report about research that was conducted over two years involving 7,750 people with long Covid.

There are significant differences between the people who have been infected with Long Covid. A quarter of the people surveyed said that they feel they have completely recovered, C-support reported.

However, long Covid has “a lot and lengthy impact on physical and mental health,” researchers said. Many of the participants in the survey had a low quality of life.

The symptoms are also very diverse, but fatigue and problems with taking in knowledge were mentioned by almost all of the participants. Long Covid has also implications for the financial situation and the ability to participate in social life or even in a family, the report stated.

Patients mentioned that a lack of recognition and finding the right support and care is an additional problem.

“I think it is important that we recognize Long Covid so that people can feel understood and know that there is cooperation on many fronts to improve their situation and that of people with other post-infectious diseases in the long term," said Health Minister Fleur Agema.