Modern societies quietly depend on certain assumptions about the body:

• that people will remain productive
• that illness will usually be temporary and
• that recovery is the normal outcome.

Long COVID disrupted all three at scale.

The economic consequences have been enormous. Millions of Americans are now living with Long COVID, and most of the financial burden comes not from hospitalizations, but from lost ability to work. In the United States alone 44–48 million Americans with Long COVID generate costs of $2–6.5 billion annually, with over 90% attributable to productivity losses. Globally, the cumulative economic impact approaches $1 trillion per year — roughly 1% of the global economy.