Long COVID may cause surge in U.S. women with disabilities: media

LOS ANGELES, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Long COVID may be behind the recent surge in U.S. women with a disability, who surpassed their male counterparts in the workforce during the pandemic, reversing historic trends, according to a report of Bloomberg.

Women are disproportionately affected by lingering effects from COVID-19 infection. The emergence of long COVID coincides with an increase in women with disabilities, who have outnumbered their male peers in monthly government labor figures on a regular basis since last June, said the report published on Thursday.

The gender difference has important implications for the labor market. Researchers have estimated that COVID illnesses may have reduced the workforce by 500,000 to 1 million people when accounting for those who either worked fewer hours or left entirely, according to the report.