Thread by @_CatintheHat

Less than 8 months ago, back when the Tories were still in charge, a Labour MP stood up in parliament to ask a VERY important question…

He demanded to know what assessment the government had made of Long Covid on the workforce.

That MP was Andrew Gwynne (@GwynneMP)…

🧵

Less than 4 months later, Labour won the election…

…and that MP, Andrew Gwynne, became our Minister for Public Health.

He was recently asked to answer a very similar question to the one he had posed back in March.

His reply was utterly disappointing.

questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questi…

I find it hard to comprehend that he STILL hasn’t assessed the economic impact of Long Covid.

According to the huge GP-Patient Survey (July 2024, ~700K respondents), 4.6% of the population are now suffering from Long Covid.

That’s equivalent to 3.1 MILLION people across the UK!

And according to the latest ONS Covid Infection Survey (March 2024), 29% of those with Long Covid reported that their symptoms had started within the previous year.

In other words, nearly A THIRD of people suffering from Long Covid are NEW cases which started since March 2023.

The recent UK LOCOMOTION study revealed that:

🚨52% of those with Long Covid had reduced working hours or stopped working altogether.

🚨On average, work lost to each Long Covid sufferer cost £11K (equivalent to £5.7 BILLION if scaled up across the UK).

evidence.nihr.ac.uk/alert/how-much… x.com/nihrevidence/s…

And this report published by @TheEconomist estimated that the overall economic burden of Long Covid in the UK was around $15.5 BILLION.

impact.economist.com/perspectives/h…

Wouldn’t you think that these reports might cause the government to want to dig a little deeper into the causes of the sudden rise in long-term sickness in the UK since the start of the ongoing Covid pandemic?

As BBC Health reporter, @jim_reed, says in the attached clip from @bbc5live this week:

“Almost every expert out there thinks <Long Covid> is now a very important factor in explaining why we’ve seen this rise over the past 4-5 years in people who are off work long-term sick”.

https://twitter.com/_catinthehat/status/1851236989376332146

I just wish that Andrew Gwynne (@GwynneMP) could listen to himself speaking in Parliament on this exact topic less than 8 months ago.

He knew back then…

…so why is he ignoring it now?

@GwynneMP Back in 2022, Andrew Gwynne authored an article in The House where he wrote:

“If the government does not start tackling long Covid, it will impact everything… The problem is vast, challenging & cannot be ignored.”

politicshome.com/thehouse/artic…

@GwynneMP I just wish that the Andrew from the past could have a word with the Andrew of today….

@GwynneMP

https://twitter.com/_catinthehat/status/1817285735264780670

@GwynneMP He doesn’t even need to commission a new study to look into this.

The work has already been done!

There are numerous studies from around the world which have analysed the enormous & undeniable impact of Long Covid on the workforce:



h/t @CarlvKeirsbilck medium.com/@carlvank/coro…

@GwynneMP @CarlvKeirsbilck This article was written over 2 years ago.

Governments were ignoring ‘the Greatest Mass-Disabling Event in Human History’ back then.

Two years down the line, we’re seeing the consequences play out in real-time…

…and yet they’re STILL ignoring it now.

time.com/6213103/us-gov…