Key Points

In Week 15 (April 11–17, 2022), emergency department visits and hospitalizations following such visits decreased among children (-7%, or 7,813 fewer visits, and -9%, or 850 fewer hospitalizations) and remained stable in other age groups.

After five consecutive weeks of increases, this week saw a slight decrease in visits for suspected COVID-19 across all age groups (7,826 vs. 8,220 visits, or -5% vs. +4% in Week 14 and +15% in Week 13). The share of activity and the proportion of hospitalizations remain stable (2.2% vs. 2.3% and 38% vs. 37% in Week 14, respectively). This decline applies to those aged 2–14 (-26%, or -142 visits) and those aged 15–74 (-7%, or -309 visits), while visits remained stable among those aged 0–2 and those aged 75 and older. COVID-19 remains the third most common condition in emergency departments among those aged 75 and older, the seventh most common among those aged 15–74, and also the seventh most common among children under 2 years of age. At the regional level, emergency department visits for suspected COVID-19 are stable in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Corsica and declining in other regions. Since monitoring began on February 24, 2020, 773,433 emergency department visits for suspected COVID-19 have been recorded.

Among other indicators, there has been very little increase, but several indicators remain at a high level for the season; this is particularly the case for respiratory conditions (influenza/flu-like illness, ENT conditions, and bronchitis in adults to a lesser extent) as well as gastroenteritis and isolated fever in children. However, there was an increase in visits for conjunctivitis across all age groups (+19%, or +186 visits) and for isolated fever (+20%, or +59 visits) among those aged 75 and older.