Failure to consider long Covid impact will hit UK economy, says expert

theguardian.com:

The UK will pay an economic price for failing to consider long Covid when lifting restrictions and making recommendations on vaccinations for children, a doctor has warned.

The decision to drop all Covid rules in England was largely based on whether the NHS could handle the number of sick patients, but far more people are expected to develop long-term medical problems after fighting off the virus.

Speaking at a Royal Society conference on the science of Covid on Thursday, Dr Nathalie MacDermott, a specialist in paediatric infectious disease at King’s College London, said high levels of infection would result in more long Covid that would blight people’s lives, harm children’s education and undermine the economy.

“We talk about hospitalisations and we talk about deaths, but I don’t hear people saying long Covid is an issue. We need to consider that when we adjust our public health measures, when we introduce different measures to try and contain this pandemic, or we decide to not have any measures whatsoever,” she said. “Economically, that is going to be to our downfall in the coming years.”

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that 1.5 million people in UK households are living with long Covid, where symptoms from fatigue and brain fog to loss of smell and taste persist for more than four weeks after infection. Nearly half of those surveyed by the ONS reported ailments lasting at least a year. Older people, women, and obese people are most at risk of long Covid.

MacDermott caught Covid two years ago and now has to take cabs to work and use a mobility scooter after developing long Covid, also known as post-Covid syndrome. Beyond the impact it has on individuals’ lives, she said, the condition would have a