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Long COVID Prevalence, Disability, and Accommodations: Analysis Across Demographic Groups

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Abstract

Purpose

This paper examines the prevalence of long COVID across different demographic groups in the US and the extent to which workers with impairments associated with long COVID have engaged in pandemic-related remote work.

Methods

We use the US Household Pulse Survey to evaluate the proportion of all adults who self-reported to (1) have had long COVID, and (2) have activity limitations due to long COVID. We also use data from the US Current Population Survey to estimate linear probability regressions for the likelihood of pandemic-related remote work among workers with and without disabilities.

Results

Findings indicate that women, Hispanic people, sexual and gender minorities, individuals without 4-year college degrees, and people with preexisting disabilities are more likely to have long COVID and to have activity limitations from long COVID. Remote work is a reasonable arrangement for people with such activity limitations and may be an unintentional accommodation for some people who have undisclosed disabilities. However, this study shows that people with disabilities were less likely than people without disabilities to perform pandemic-related remote work.

Conclusion

The data suggest this disparity persists because people with disabilities are clustered in jobs that are not amenable to remote work. Employers need to consider other accommodations, especially shorter workdays and flexible scheduling, to hire and retain employees who are struggling with the impacts of long COVID.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Notes

  1. According to this DHHS guidance, a person with a disability is defined as someone having a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits at least one of their major life activities; and a reasonable accommodation is an adjustment of an organization’s policies, practices, or workspace that allows people with disabilities to have equal access to opportunities and employment.

  2. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/long-covid.htm.

  3. The data and questionnaires are publicly available at: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/household-pulse-survey/datasets.html.

  4. Computed from response rates published at https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/long-covid.htm.

  5. People who are SGM self-identified their sexual orientation as gay, bisexual, “something else,” or gender identification as transgender in the HPS survey [11]. The combined SGM category is heterogeneous; we do not mean to imply that gay, bisexual, and transgender people have comparable experiences in daily life or in the labor market.

  6. The disability data in the HPS may include people with disabilities from long COVID, but the majority of disabilities were likely preexisting disabilities, as indicated by the trend analysis in section “Prevalence and Repercussions of Long COVID.”

  7. Across the ten rounds of HPS data we analyzed, 6.5% of women reported severe difficulty remembering or concentrating compared to 4.5% of men.

  8. The 23,000 students were in 9th grade in 2009 and were surveyed in 2016; the data aggregate student self-reports, school reports on students with Individualized Education Programs, and parent reports of diagnoses by health or education professional [25].

  9. Calculation based on data in Newman et al. [25].

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Funding

Author YR has received funding support from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) for the Rehabilitation Research & Training Center (RRTC) on Employment Policy: Center for Disability-Inclusive Employment Policy Research Grant [Grant Number #90RTEM0006-01–00] and by the NIDILRR RRTC on Employer Practices Leading to Successful Employment Outcomes Among People with Disabilities Research Grant [Grant Number #90RTEM0008-01-00].

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Miami University, Oxford, OH, USA

    Jennifer Cohen

  2. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Jennifer Cohen

  3. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Yana van der Meulen Rodgers

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  1. Jennifer Cohen
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Contributions

JC and YMR wrote the main manuscript text. JC conducted the HPS analysis, and YMR conducted the CPS analysis. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yana van der Meulen Rodgers.

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Competing Interests

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Ethical Approval

This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Institutional Review Board of Rutgers University, October 20, 2022, Study ID Pro2021002068.

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Cohen, J., Rodgers, Y.v. Long COVID Prevalence, Disability, and Accommodations: Analysis Across Demographic Groups. J Occup Rehabil 34, 335–349 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10926-024-10173-3

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