Posted on Jan 17, 2023
How long COVID has redefined one woman's identity and complicated Missouri's economy
378
12
3
6
6
0
While unemployment is at a near historic low, many businesses are still struggling to find workers — as many otherwise eligible workers in Missouri are out with short or long-term complications of long COVID.
Michelle Wilson was a nurse at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in the emergency room when she was diagnosed with COVID-19 in November 2020. She had what she calls a “mild case,” and returned back to work after recovering.
But then she started to feel sick again.
One morning, she woke up with chest pain and found it difficult to breathe. When she arrived at the hospital, she was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia – a lung infection that impacts the tissue of the lungs and makes it hard to breathe.
Michelle Wilson was a nurse at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in the emergency room when she was diagnosed with COVID-19 in November 2020. She had what she calls a “mild case,” and returned back to work after recovering.
But then she started to feel sick again.
One morning, she woke up with chest pain and found it difficult to breathe. When she arrived at the hospital, she was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia – a lung infection that impacts the tissue of the lungs and makes it hard to breathe.
How long COVID has redefined one woman's identity and complicated Missouri's economy
Posted from kcur.org
Medical
Health
Economics
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 3
2
2
0
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."“Employers will face challenges accommodating these individuals in the workplace, as well as hiring new individuals from a labor force that could be reduced due to these long COVID sufferers choosing to remove themselves from the available labor pool,” Dietterle wrote.
A recent study by the Brooking’s Institute found as of January 2022, long COVID accounted for about 15% of the unfilled jobs in the market.
So, when it comes to rejoining the labor force or what that's going to look like – Dr. Holliday at the MU COVID clinic said he often can’t answer those questions for his patients.
"I think the hardest thing for our patients is that if we find something that we know how to treat, we can treat it but there's a lot of unknown still out there,” Holiday said. “I think that's hard. Knowing that we're still working on potential treatment interventions for some of these patients.”
But for Michelle Wilson, not going back to work is just part of her long COVID story. She sold her two story house due to the stairs, hired someone to help keep the house clean and sometimes, she feels so exhausted, it can be difficult to cook dinner or even take a shower.
Wilson remembered her interactions with her doctor: “I would ask the doctor ‘How long do you think it'd be before I feel better? How long before I'm not going to be short of breath anymore? How long before I'm not fatigued anymore?' And they would just look at me and say, ‘Well, we don't know, you're helping us figure that out.’”
For now, she said she has accepted chronic illness as part of her new reality."
..."“Employers will face challenges accommodating these individuals in the workplace, as well as hiring new individuals from a labor force that could be reduced due to these long COVID sufferers choosing to remove themselves from the available labor pool,” Dietterle wrote.
A recent study by the Brooking’s Institute found as of January 2022, long COVID accounted for about 15% of the unfilled jobs in the market.
So, when it comes to rejoining the labor force or what that's going to look like – Dr. Holliday at the MU COVID clinic said he often can’t answer those questions for his patients.
"I think the hardest thing for our patients is that if we find something that we know how to treat, we can treat it but there's a lot of unknown still out there,” Holiday said. “I think that's hard. Knowing that we're still working on potential treatment interventions for some of these patients.”
But for Michelle Wilson, not going back to work is just part of her long COVID story. She sold her two story house due to the stairs, hired someone to help keep the house clean and sometimes, she feels so exhausted, it can be difficult to cook dinner or even take a shower.
Wilson remembered her interactions with her doctor: “I would ask the doctor ‘How long do you think it'd be before I feel better? How long before I'm not going to be short of breath anymore? How long before I'm not fatigued anymore?' And they would just look at me and say, ‘Well, we don't know, you're helping us figure that out.’”
For now, she said she has accepted chronic illness as part of her new reality."
(2)
(0)
2
2
0
2
2
0
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google