Summary

In Week 16 (April 15–21, 2019), emergency department visits and subsequent hospitalizations remained stable compared to the previous week among children and adults aged 15–74, and rose slightly by 4% among adults aged 75 and older (an increase of 2,047 visits).

Most seasonal illnesses increased across all age groups over the past week. Of particular note is the rise in visits: - for chickenpox among children (+35%, or +209 visits) and adults aged 15 to 74 (+24%, or +12 visits). Chickenpox was the 10th most common condition in pediatric emergency departments: - for insect bites across all age groups (+78%, or +236 visits), which may be linked to rising temperatures nationwide; - for conjunctivitis across all age groups (+22%, or +263 visits); - for viral meningitis in adults (+41%, or +7 visits). The activity levels for these indicators remain comparable to those of the previous two years.

Finally, among the most common conditions, there was an increase in visits for ENT infections among those aged 15–74 (+8.5%), and for pneumonia (+11%) and urinary tract infections (+11%) among those aged 75 and older.