COVID-19 – A look at what happened in 2022

A public health expert’s analysis of the situation with COVID-19 in 2022. One thing that definitely didn’t happen in 2022 was the end of the pandemic.

In a series of tweets, Professor Christina Pagel, Director of University College London’s clinical operational research unit, and a member of Independent Sage, has recently reviewed the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic. In her thread, she outlined the evolution of the virus, as well as the public health measures taken to combat it. Professor Pagel’s review provides invaluable insight into the efficacy of the current approaches, allowing us to assess the effectiveness of the government’s strategies.

Professor Pagel started explaining that despite what many people have suggested, COVID-19 has had a far greater impact on illness, hospitals, and deaths than the flu. From December 2021, it was extremely rare for more than 2% of the population to have COVID-19 at any one time. However, in 2022, this statistic was drastically exceeded, with 38 out of 52 weeks having a prevalence rate higher than 2%. Furthermore, there were five distinct waves of the virus, with three of them having a peak of more than one in 20 people infected.