Summary

• In week 51 (December 14–20, 2020), emergency department visits increased among children under 2 years of age (+6.7%, or 973 visits) and those aged 15–74 (+4%, or 6,387 visits), while hospitalizations following emergency department visits increased only among children under 2 years of age (+10%, or 225 hospitalizations). These indicators are stable or declining in other age groups.

• In week 51, visits for suspected COVID-19 across all age groups increased after six consecutive weeks of decline. They increased among children under 2 years of age (+100%, or 16 visits) and those aged 15–74 (+15%, or 442 visits), while they decreased slightly among those aged 2–14 (-16%, or 12 visits) and remained stable among those aged 75 and older. In Week 51, suspected COVID-19 was the 7th most common diagnosis among those aged 15–74 and the 3rd most common among those aged 75 and older. In total, 5,108 visits were recorded in Week 51 (vs. 4,630 visits in Week 50—consolidated data as of 12/22/2020, a 10% increase). The share of visits for COVID-19 in total activity rose slightly to 2.2% (vs. 2.0% in Week 50), and the proportion of hospitalizations following a visit across all age groups remained stable at 53%. At the regional level, visits for suspected COVID-19 are on the rise in most regions except Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Brittany, Corsica, Réunion, and Occitanie. In these other regions, declines range from -3% in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté to -20% in Réunion. Since monitoring began on February 24, 2020, 310,359 emergency department visits for suspected COVID-19 have been recorded.

• Among other conditions, the main trend is an increase in most seasonal illnesses, although the observed levels remain significantly lower than in previous years for the same period. Among these conditions, the main increases are observed for ENT conditions (+13%, or +759 visits) across all age groups, for acute bronchiolitis (+12% among children under 2 years old, or +54 visits), and for gastroenteritis (+12%, or +132 visits) among children. There were also increases in isolated fever (+9%, or +259 visits) across all age groups, and in general malaise among those aged 15–74 (+5%, or +219 visits).