Impact of long COVID-19 on employees of the mining industry in South Africa: a cross-sectional study

TL;DR

This study examines how long COVID affects workers in South Africa's mining industry, finding that about 7% experience prolonged symptoms with no significant impact on productivity.

Contribution

The study provides novel insights into long COVID prevalence and its effects on productivity within South Africa's mining sector.

Findings

Approximately 7% of employees with COVID-19 were identified as having long COVID.

There was no significant difference in productivity between employees with and without long COVID.

Abstract

coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic in March 2020, and most patients recover within a few days or weeks. However, some patients suffer from long COVID, which is characterized by prolonged symptoms of varying severity. Given the importance of the mining sector to the South African economy, it is critical to comprehend the impact of long COVID on the mining sector.

we carried out a cross-sectional study that included data extraction from participant medical records and responses to study questionnaires. We used unique identifiers to anonymize participant information and match data from medical records to participant questionnaires.

data from 239 medical records and 362 questionnaires were provided by employees from three mines. About 7% of people with COVID-19 were identified as having long COVID. In addition, there was no difference in productivity between people with and without long COVID.

our findings are not generalizable to the entire mining sector due to the limited number of participants who provided data. Additional studies that include a larger sample size are required to obtain more robust estimates of the prevalence of long COVID in the mining industry and explore potential effects of various treatment interventions for patients with long COVID.