Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Long Covid costing Americans money, UGA study finds

Almost 18 million Americans are living with long COVID. The chronic condition can leave people suffering from extreme fatigue, memory problems and other potentially debilitating health problems. (Getty Images)
Getty Images
Almost 18 million Americans are living with long COVID. The chronic condition can leave people suffering from extreme fatigue, memory problems and other potentially debilitating health problems. (Getty Images)

While the panic characterizing the early days of the pandemic may be gone, long COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc on the finances of many Americans, according to a new study from the University of Georgia. Researchers found that lost jobs and reduced working hours resulting from long COVID are making it harder for low income individuals to pay their bills, buy groceries and keep their utilities on.

The study found that for individuals in the lowest income bracket, having long COVID increased the likelihood of food insecurity by 10 percentage points. They also were at higher risk of losing important utility services due to not being able to pay their bills.

Previous studies have shown that people with lower incomes have a higher risk of contracting COVID. And when they do get the virus, they tend to be sicker and even die at higher rates than their high-income counterparts.

Almost 18 million Americans are living with long COVID, a chronic condition triggered by the virus that can leave people suffering from extreme fatigue, memory problems and a variety of other disabling symptoms for months to years on end.

“COVID is still going on,” said Ishtiaque Fazlul, lead author of the study and an assistant professor in both UGA’s School of Public and International Affairs and UGA’s College of Public Health. “Long COVID is very much a problem that is affecting people’s lives right now. And it’s affecting people from all walks of life in terms of financial hardship.”

Published in Health Services Research, the study was co-authored by Mahmud Khan, a professor in UGA’s College of Public Health’s Department of Health Policy and Management, and Biplab Kumar Datta, an assistant professor at Augusta University.