Media release – UTAS, 6 November 2024
Long COVID still taking an economic toll
Long COVID inflicted a significant economic burden on Australia in 2022 and 2023 according to a paper published in the Medical Journal of Australia by a team of researchers from the University of Tasmania’s Menzies Institute for Medical Research, and from Deakin University.
The team, led by Menzies Professor Martin Hensher, used modelling and labour market statistics to identify the estimated economic burden of Long COVID, and its likely impact on employment.
Professor Hensher said that last year tens of thousands of Australians were still suffering from Long COVID and it had severely limited their activities.
“This matched up with data showing that several tens of thousands more Australians than expected could not work or did not want to work due to long term illness.”
In 2022, the economic cost of Long COVID to Australia could have been as much as $6 billion. Despite this amount being reduced in 2023, it was most likely still in the billions of dollars.
Analysis also shows that these economic impacts fall overwhelmingly on people living with Long COVID and on their families.
“Our findings emphasise the unfortunate reality that Australia is still not adequately monitoring how many people are affected by Long COVID – or indeed the true impact of ongoing COVID infections and re-infections.”
“The COVID-19 Response Inquiry Report released last week highlighted these ongoing weaknesses in surveillance and monitoring of infections and their long-term effects. It is still not too late for governments to start taking more seriously the need to measure – and then to address effectively – the true scale of Long COVID in this country.”
