How Much Labor Was Lost in the US During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Year 2025, Volume: 28 Issue: 4, 292 - 295, 01.12.2025

Mustafa Özilgen

https://doi.org/10.5541/ijot.1754041

Abstract

The US National Center for Health Statistics published the ages of patients who died in the US during the pandemic, as well as the numbers of false-negative and false-positive PCR tests. Assessment of the data showed that roughly 33.9 × 109 J of work power is lost. A cyclist may do 3,709 kJ, a weight lifter may do 3,950 kJ, a rugby player may do 3,716 kJ, and a golfer may do 2,413 kJ of work in a day. Therefore, the total loss of work potential during the pandemic would be equivalent to the work power utilized by an elite athlete biker in 91x105 days, a weight lifter in 85x105 days, a rugby player in 91x105 days, and a golfer in 15x106 days. The disease transmission rate and the reliability of the data may be substantially different in different countries and age groups; therefore, this may lead to different global work power loss results.

Keywords

Loss of work power , COVID-19 , PCR test , discordant results , false negative results , false positive results

References

• “COVID-19 diagnostic testing.” Accessed: Dec. 19, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/covid-19-diagnostic-test/about/pac-20488900.
• M. Ozilgen, Handbook of Food Process Modeling and Statistical Quality Control, 2nd ed. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2011. doi: 10.1201/b10833.
• B. Yilmaz, S. Ercan, S. Akduman, and M. Özilgen, “Energetic and exergetic costs of COVID-19 infection on the body of a patient,” International Journal of Exergy, vol. 32, no. 3, p. 314, 2020, doi: 10.1504/IJEX.2020.108602.
• A. S. Semerciöz, B. Yılmaz, and M. Özilgen, “Thermodynamic assessment of allocation of energy and exergy of the nutrients for the life processes during pregnancy,” British Journal of Nutrition, vol. 124, no. 7, pp. 742–753, Oct. 2020, doi: 10.1017/S0007114520001646.
• L. Sherwood, Human physiology: from cells to systems, 9th ed. Boston: Cengage learning, 2016.
• J. E. Hall and A. C. Guyton, Guyton and Hall textbook of medical physiology, 13th edition. in Student consult. Philadelphia, PA, USA: Elsevier, 2016.
• P. G. Kopelman, “Obesity as a medical problem,” Nature, vol. 404, no. 6778, pp. 635–643, Apr. 2000, doi: 10.1038/35007508.
• L. Kuddusi, “Thermodynamics and life span estimation,” Energy, vol. 80, pp. 227–238, Feb. 2015, doi: 10.1016/j.energy.2014.11.065.
• M. E. Öngel, C. Yıldız, C. Akpınaroğlu, B. Yilmaz, and M. Özilgen, “Why women may live longer than men do? A telomere-length regulated and diet-based entropic assessment,” Clinical Nutrition, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 1186–1191, Mar. 2021, doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2020.07.030.
• E. Turgut and U. Yardımcı, “Detailed evaluation of a heat exchanger in terms of effectiveness and second law,” Journal of Turbulence, vol. 23, no. 9–10, pp. 515–547, Oct. 2022, doi: 10.1080/14685248.2022.2134571.
• A. Tiktaş, H. Gunerhan, A. Hepbasli, and E. Açıkkalp, “Exergy-based techno-economic and environmental assessments of a proposed integrated solar powered electricity generation system along with novel prioritization method and performance indices,” Process Safety and Environmental Protection, vol. 178, pp. 396–413, Oct. 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.psep.2023.08.048.
• A. Tiktas, H. Gunerhan, and A. Hepbasli, “Exergoeconomic optimization of a proposed novel combined solar powered electricity and high-capacity cooling load production system for economical and potent generation via utilization of low-grade waste heat source,” Thermal Science and Engineering Progress, vol. 55, Oct. 2024, Art. no. 102976, doi: 10.1016/j.tsep.2024.102976.
• A. Elkihel, A. Bakdid, Y. Elkihel, and H. Gziri, “Optimization of Energy Consumption of a Thermal Installation Based on the Energy Management System EnMS,” in Advanced Technologies for Humanity, vol. 110, Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2022, pp. 311–319. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-94188-8_29.
• A. Tiktas, H. Gunerhan, A. Hepbasli, and E. Açıkkalp, “Extended exergy analysis of a novel integrated absorptional cooling system design without utilization of generator for economical and robust provision of higher cooling demands,” Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 307, May 2024, Art. no. 118350, doi: 10.1016/j.enconman.2024.118350.
• A. Tiktas, A. Hepbasli, and H. Gunerhan, “Achieving ultra-high coefficient of performance in a novel solar-assisted trigeneration system integrating absorption and Rankine cycles,” Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 346, p. 120415, Dec. 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.enconman.2025.120415.
• “COVID-19 Provisional Counts - Weekly Updates by Select Demographic and Geographic Characteristics.” Accessed: Mar. 11, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covid_weekly/index.htm.
• “Anthropometric Reference Data for Children and Adults: United States, 2015–2018.” Accessed: Sep. 20, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_03/sr03-046-508.pdf
• K. F. Jarvis and J. B. Kelley, “Temporal Dynamics of Viral Load and False negative Rate Influence the Levels of Testing Necessary to Combat COVID19 Spread,” Aug. 14, 2020. doi: 10.1101/2020.08.12.20173831.
• C. Yildiz, M. E. Öngel, B. Yilmaz, and M. Özilgen, “Diet-dependent entropic assessment of athletes’ lifespan,” Journal of Nutritional Science, vol. 10, p. e83, 2021, doi: 10.1017/jns.2021.78.