Workers’ compensation provides medical and monetary benefits for a percentage of lost wages to employees who become sick or injured on the job. The details and regulations vary widely between states; however, workers must typically prove their injury or illness occurred during the course of their employment. For certain illnesses, including COVID-19, this can be particularly challenging.

A new term – medium COVID –  has emerged that may add further nuance to Long COVID diagnoses. As the pandemic has progressed, scientists have realized that Long COVID, which was developed in the early stages of the pandemic to broadly encompass the experience of lingering COVID symptoms past the point of what could be considered the acute infection, may be a more complicated diagnosis than originally expected.

Although children often have less severe COVID-19 infections and Long COVID appears to be less common in children, Long COVID can affect any person infected with COVID-19, regardless of age. Long COVID research studying the impact in children and adolescents is still limited. We previously posted an article summarizing research about Long COVID among children. This article provides an update of recent literature on the topic.

New research out of the UK  suggests that “COVID-19 vaccination is associated with reduced risk of Long COVID.”

Months after the first onset of Lauren Nichols’ COVID-19 symptoms in March of 2020, she still had a laundry list of maladies that seemed to grow by the day: constant migraines, histamine rashes, reproductive issues, fevers, vertigo, and gastrointestinal problems so severe that some days she couldn’t even keep water down. Her neurological issues were so intense that one day, she says she was trapped inside of her shower because she couldn’t remember what the door handle was. Other days, she forgot what her hands were.

Recently we posted an article about how Long COVID affects employees and employers. As issues around Long COVID and the workforce continuously emerge, we plan to provide updates to keep the community in the know about the latest data and conversations on this topic. In this post we’ve provide a brief review of recent studies estimating the impact on the labor shortage.

Although there is limited data to measure the impact of Long COVID on mental health, studies are emerging particularly around anxiety and depression, which are among the most common mental health diagnoses for Long COVID patients.

As more research becomes available on the topic of Long COVID in adults, evidence of Long COVID in children remains preliminary.

The answer is YES. Effective October 1, 2021, a new ICD-10 code became available for the diagnosis of Long COVID: U09.9, Post COVID-19 condition, unspecified. This code will now be used instead of the code B94.8 (sequelae of other specified infectious and parasitic disease), which had been used previously. 

Anyone who has had COVID-19 can potentially become a Long COVID patient, even individuals who had mild cases. As a result, employees affected by Long COVID could become one of the largest groups of employees requiring accommodations and inquiring about disability insurance.