Researcher says employer obligations for sick leave should be reviewed

A House of Representatives Committee was tasked in September to hold an inquiry into long COVID and repeated infections and has so far received more than 530 submissions.

Professor Martin Hensher in his submission said data on long COVID was lacking and recommended the Australian Government fund the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Australian Institute of Health and Welfare to investigate the true extent of the condition.

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He said monthly surveys should track the prevalence of long COVID, symptoms, duration of symptoms, activity limitation, health care access and economic impacts.

Professor Hensher said sick-leave entitlements should also be reviewed and that long COVID should be used to leverage new solutions to better protect workers who had a long-term sickness or disability.

He said new policies should be adopted on the eligibility and diagnostic criteria of long COVID with respect to the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Centrelink disability payments and other welfare benefits.

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Professor Hensher said international evidence suggested a proportion of people with long COVID suffered limiting symptoms two years after the initial infection.

He said disability rates in the US had risen substantially over two years with many attributing this to long COVID.

A previous report from the institute stated it was likely that over 500,000 Australians would have long COVID symptoms.

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