Summary

In Week 32 (August 9–15, 2021), emergency department visits and subsequent hospitalizations remained stable among children and increased among adults (up 3%, or 9,210 visits, and up 4%, or 2,609 hospitalizations, respectively). Visits for suspected COVID-19 across all age groups continued to rise for the seventh consecutive week, though at a less pronounced rate than in the previous two weeks (+12% in Week 32 vs. +19% in Week 31 and +46% in Week 30).

In total, there were 7,521 visits (+779 visits) with a stable share of activity (2.5% vs. 2.3% in Week 31). This increase is observed among both children (+31%, or +86 visits) and adults (+11%, or +693 visits). The proportion of hospitalizations following visits across all age groups remains stable at 42%. At the regional level, emergency room visits for suspected COVID-19 are down in Réunion, stable in PACA and Occitanie, and up in other regions. The sharpest increases are observed in French Guiana (+177%, or +53 visits), Guadeloupe (+38%, or +156 visits), Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (+21%, or +179 visits), and Hauts-de-France (+38%, or +69 visits).

Since monitoring began on February 24, 2020, 529,834 emergency room visits for suspected COVID-19 have been recorded. After weeks of decline, several seasonal indicators are once again on the rise, linked to the high temperatures observed in recent days in certain regions. Specifically, there have been increases in cases of hyperthermia and heatstroke (+440%, or +170 visits), insect bites (+42%, or 603 visits), dehydration (+20%, or 74 visits), allergies (+8%, or 232 visits) across all age groups, as well as for general malaise (+9%, or 870 visits) and isolated fever (+9%, or 118 visits) among those aged 15 and older. There was also a slight increase in trauma cases across all age groups (+6%, or 5,364 visits).