Help Employers Take a Proactive Stance to Meet Long COVID Needs

Statistics show that the United States has recorded more than 80 million cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.* And while most people with COVID recover and return to their normal routines quickly, that isn’t the case for those experiencing long COVID.

How are your clients helping employees struggling with chronic symptoms after they’ve had COVID? Learning more about the illness is a good first step. Partnering with the right disability insurance provider is a great next step.

What Is Long COVID?

The medical term is post-acute sequelae of COVID-19, or PASC. We’re still learning about this illness, and more research is needed to identify the cause and treatments. The symptoms can last weeks or months after the first infection, according to the CDC.

The list of frequently reported symptoms is long. They include:

• Fatigue
• Cough
• Shortness of breath
• Chest pain
• Difficulty concentrating
• Cognitive impairment, or “brain fog”
• Joint pain
• Low-grade fever
• Headache
• Loss of smell and taste
• Sleep problems
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Gastrointestinal conditions
• Rashes
• Alopecia
• Palpitations

Get Help From a Provider

6-Step Help Guide

An employer may be unsure about how to approach an employee experiencing long COVID — or any problem that might be affecting work. This six-step process can help:

1. Identify workplace issues

2. Meet with the employee in private

3. Explain reasons for concern and ask, “How can I help?”

4. Listen in a non-judgmental, empathic manner

5. Offer appropriate resources for coping

6. Follow up

Make sure your clients are partnering with a disability insurance provider who’s set up to help. The Standard, for example, has a long history of successfully managing chronic conditions. We diligently evaluate claims and provide resources that can help address productivity issues.

We can help guide their efforts to accommodate employees as part of their short term or long term disability programs. Our goal is always to safely help employees stay at work or return to work as soon as medically feasible.

Remind your clients not to overlook the behavioral health aspects of long COVID and other medical conditions. Certain accommodations, such as schedule changes to attend medical appointments, can be a great help to employees working through mental health or substance use issues. Check out and share our Behavioral Health Resource Center for more information.

Reach out to your local sales office for more information about our disability benefits and ways we can help your clients support their employees.

Next month: We’ll look at some of the top long COVID symptoms and the reasonable accommodations to address them.