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

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

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