Millions are missing from the workforce due to COVID-19.

Allowing COVID-19 to rip through our population has had devastating consequences on our workforce. US Federal Reserve and Bank of England both agree.

"Close to a half a million who would have been working ... died from COVID," Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell noted at a press conference last month. 

In addition to the staggering number of dead American workers, Powell noted that there are three million more who haven’t returned to the workforce since the pandemic began. 

Some of these workers retired earlier than expected. Some have been unable to return to work due to ongoing COVID-related health complications, including Long COVID. Last August, Brookings reported that as many as 4 million people were unable to work due to COVID.

My deep worry is that this long-term impact of #COVID on debilitating the workforce will continue to hit us year after year, as COVID and other infections (via COVID’s immunocompromised) slams ashore every winter.

Asish Jha, the White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator, recently shared similar concerns 👇

Eric Feigl-Ding @DrEricDing

⚠️Sobering—STRAINED WINTERS FOR YEARS—White House COVID19 response coordinator @AshishKJha46 said the US health-care system may not be able to withstand the continued #COVID viral onslaught, straining ability to care for other serious illnesses. Wow.🧵 washingtonpost.com/health/2023/01…

Jha told the Washington Post: “I am worried that we are going to have, for years, our health system being pretty dysfunctional, not being able to take care of heart attack patients, not being able to take care of cancer patients, not being able to take care of the kid who’s got appendicitis because we’re going to be so overwhelmed with respiratory viruses for … three or four months a year.”

Who else has warned about #COVID cutting down the workforce? Actually the @BankofEngland warned about it last year — especially regarding #LongCovid debilitating the workforce. So the US Federal Reserve & Bank of England warning enough for all the COVID deniers??? 👇

Eric Feigl-Ding @DrEricDing

Whoa—@bankofengland just warned that deep concern of surging #LongCovid is taking workers out of the workforce. The spike ⬆️ in workers age 16-64 who do not work because of long term illness during the #COVID pandemic is alarming, and fast increasing. Mass infection depravity.🧵

INFLATION— yes, #COVID is indeed a major contributor to it, says the @BankofEngland. So yes, “it is the economy, stupid” phrase is correct here. COVID is not something to ignore. It’s something to fight and prevent. Don’t live with COVID—don’t wave the white flag 🏳️ to it.

Eric Feigl-Ding @DrEricDing

7) in terms of inflation, the Bank of England says, aside from Energy, COVID EFFECTS ON DEMAND and COVID EFFECTS ON COSTS and LABOR are major contributors to inflation.

Allowing COVID-19 to rip through our population has had predictably devastating consequences on our workforce. It’s time to change course by implementing COVID-19 mitigations including mask mandates in public indoor places, free COVID-19 testing, and a renewed push to increase booster uptake.

An investment in COVID-19 mitigations is an investment in the long term health and wellbeing of our workforce and population. We can’t afford to keep sacrificing people to SARS-CoV-2.