Key Points

Week 37 (September 7–13, 2020):

• In the Indian Ocean region, during the third week of school in Mayotte and the fourth in Réunion, there was a decrease in the number of emergency room visits for asthma among children under 15 (-67%, or 54 fewer visits). The proportion of emergency department visits for asthma is declining but remains higher than in the past three years (9.5% in 2020 vs. 5.5% between 2017 and 2019).

• Nationally, during the second week of school in mainland France, asthma-related visits among children under 15 rose sharply in emergency departments (+154%, or +2,564 visits) as well as within the SOS Médecins network (+122%, or +454 cases) (Table 2). The increases observed in the SOS Médecins network and in emergency departments are comparable to those of the past three years, both in terms of timing and intensity (Figures 2 and 3).