Each December, the Daily Briefing's editorial team shares a list of the 10 stories our readers visited most in the prior year.

In the past, the list has included a variety of stories covering topics from physician pay to medical mysteries. However, since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, our most-read stories have typically been related to the coronavirus.

This year was no exception, with the majority of our most-read stories dealing with Covid-19—more specifically, Covid-19 tests, what those test results mean, Covid-19 treatments, and how frequently a person can get Covid-19.

While the majority of our most-read stories were related to the pandemic, a handful were related to a different virus—mpox (formerly known as monkeypox), which entered the United States in May and led to an outbreak over the summer that has continued on through the year.

Below, we round up the Daily Briefing's 10 most-read stories of 2022.

The 10 most-read stories

1. Testing positive after isolation: Are you still contagious? (January 24)
2. Some people test positive for Covid-19 for weeks. Are they still infectious? (June 1)
3. How often can you get Covid-19? 'At least a couple times a year,' experts say. (May 18)
4. The 5 most common Covid-19 symptoms have changed (October 25)
5. The 'super common side effect' of the mpox vaccine (August 25)
6. CDC now has guidance for those who experience Paxlovid 'viral rebound' (May 26)
7. Can you get Covid-19—and never test positive? (June 9)
8. The US government will no longer pay for Covid-19 vaccines, treatments (August 19)
9. 'Paxlovid mouth': What it is—and how to treat it (August 18)
10. Can you get mpox from surfaces? Here's what one study found. (July 8)