RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — 2022 was a year of massive peaks and deep valleys in COVID-19.
The omicron surge to start the year pushed case counts to record levels — with the state averaging more than 33,000 cases per day at the peak in mid-January.
Those numbers fell just as quickly, with those averages dipping to fewer than 1,000 less than two months later.
The pandemic then shifted into another phase, with the state Department of Health and Human Services moving to weekly updates instead of daily ones and emphasizing certain numbers while discounting others, saying longer-term trends were more significant.
New omicron variants pushed case counts higher in the late summer and fall. While a newly-concocted booster dose was tailored specifically to target them, uptake rates were disappointing — only 19 percent of eligible North Carolinians have received that booster.
