How Will COVID-19 Impact Long-Term Disability in Ontario?
COVID-19 has disrupted life as we knew it one short year ago. We have continued to see the health and economic consequences of the virus throughout Canada and learn more about its potential repercussions each day.
As we learn more, it appears that the pandemic may have an impact on long-term disability in Ontario and worldwide. While our government has taken important steps to curtail the spread of the virus, for those 808,000 Canadians who have been infected, some will likely be suffering serious health effects both short-term and long-term. This may have a significant impact on long-term disability claims in the future.
According to Mary Ann McColl, academic lead for Canadian Policy Disability Alliance and an epidemiologist at Queens University, “This is a whole new source of disability.”
Understanding the Consequences of COVID-19 Long Term
Worldwide, we are still trying to understand the effect that COVID-19 will have on our health in the future. The Lancet published information indicating that people who were hospitalized for COVID-19 but were discharged were still suffering from symptoms six months later. The Mayo Clinic has published a list of serious long-term and chronic issues that may be caused by the virus, including
- Heart damage — imaging has indicated that COVID-19 recovery patients have shown lasting damage to the heart, even if they only suffered a mild case of COVID-19
- Lung damage — COVID-related pneumonia has been shown to cause damage to alveoli in the lungs as well as scar tissue that can cause breathing issues.
- Brain damage — COVID-19 has been shown to cause strokes, seizures, and Guillain-Barre syndrome in COVID-19 sufferers. It is even suggested that COVID increases the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease as well as Alzheimer’s.
Depending on the terms of the policy, long-term disability benefits may be available to you if you are unable to work because of the complications and long-term effects of COVID-19. If you aren’t sure about your rights to long-term disability, contact the Ontario long-term disability lawyers at Hilborn and Konduros at (519) 658-6341 to understand if you may be covered.
