AOK Bayern reports a significant increase in sick leave by almost a third (31 percent) for the months of January to September 2022 compared to the first nine months of the previous year. “In the case of Corona in particular, sick leave went up massively,” says Bernhard Frey from the AOK in Ebersberg. The incapacity rate (AU rate) across Bavaria, i.e. the proportion of employed AOK insured persons who were on sick leave because of a proven corona infection, totaled 14.7 percent, compared to 1.6 percent in the previous year up to and including September . “In the district of Ebersberg, the AU rate due to a proven corona infection was 16.6 percent of the working AOK insured in the first three quarters of 2022, in 2021 it was only 1.4 percent,” says Frey.
According to the AOK, an acute Covid-19 infection is associated with an average of 9.1 days lost due to illness, but for employees with subsequent long-Covid or post-Covid symptoms it is more than six weeks, i.e. 45.3 days. With a new “Long Covid Coach” (www.aok.de/long-covid) the AOK now wants to support those affected.