I got a cold that led to a middle ear infection, I got the flu shortly after, got COVID again, got tonsillitis, and then another cold that just turned into bronchitis.’ĭavid isn’t someone who used to be prone to illness. "In health terms, 2022 was what I called my ‘sick year'," he says. So, what’s the reason behind it all? Is it a consequence of COVID-19, or is it just our tired, burnout, sensitive new bodies, suddenly unaccustomed to illnesses that used to be routine?įor 33-year-old David Novak, a multimedia store assistant from New Jersey, this certainly rings true. While it’s easy to pass it off as the seasonal flu ‘just doing the rounds’, there does seem to be an alarming number of people who can attest to having a cold throughout the year, even the warmer months, and many report it being worse than sicknesses before the pandemic. Particularly in the lead up to Christmas, many were left exhausted, with a cough, fever, sneezing and more. Government data showed flu activity continued beyond week 14 of 2022, representing late-season activity. There have been plenty of testaments on social media of cold-like symptoms that were not due to a COVID-19 infection, but which, people said, nevertheless absolutely wiped them out. My pandemic body, and the newly sensitive immune system that came with it, seemed to bear the blame. It was usually after I’d been at the gym, or at a social event, surrounded by people – something I no longer did in my work-from-home job – that would bring on this kind of illness. But it wasn’t COVID, on any of those occasions. Each bout involved sneezing and coughing so much that when I went out, strangers would stare at me in uncomfortable judgment. Speaking for myself, I developed a nasty cold once a month, every month, for four months. Instead, anecdotes proliferated of more of us feeling sicker than ever before. You’d almost feel we've earned some robust good health all around. This feel unfair: three years into the pandemic, 2022 was the first time the UK and the US didn’t experience a significant “autumn wave” and didn’t reintroduce restrictions. This winter seems to be the winter of colds and flus and aches, sick leaves and sniffles.
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