Key Points

• In week 51 (December 19–25, 2022), the first week of school break, emergency room visits and hospitalizations following visits decreased among children aged 2–14 (by 15%, or 12,217 visits, and by 8%, or 438 hospitalizations, respectively) and remained stable in other age groups.

• The influenza/influenza-like illness indicator once again showed the sharpest increase over the past week across all age groups: 19,338 visits in Week 51 vs. 12,675 in Week 50, a 53% increase across all ages, with increases ranging from 17% among 2- to 14-year-olds to 119% among those aged 75 and older. Influenza accounts for 6% of total emergency department activity (10% among 2- to 14-year-olds) and continues to rise beyond the levels recorded at the peaks during the 2021-2022 and 2019-2020 seasons.

• At the same time, all other respiratory indicators are on the rise among adults, with levels higher than in previous years, notably bronchitis (+27%), pneumonia (+20%, more pronounced among those aged 15–74), asthma attacks (+11%), and dyspnea/respiratory failure (+15%). Among children, there was a slight increase in visits for cough (+9%) and pneumonia among 2- to 14-year-olds (+8%).

• In contrast, emergency department visits for suspected COVID-19 are declining across all age groups except for children under 2 years of age, where the small sample size shows a 10% increase (equivalent to 27 additional visits); in this age group, the decline in visits for bronchiolitis is also continuing. Among other indicators, the following increases are noted: isolated fever among children under 2 and adults aged 75 and older (respectively +18% and +24%, or +444 and +353 visits) and suicide attempts among adults aged 65 and older (+24%, or +27 visits).Finally, against the backdrop of rising non-invasive and invasive Group A Streptococcus infections, there was an increase in visits for scarlet fever in small cohorts among children under 2 years of age (26 visits in S51 vs. 14 in S50) and those aged 15–74 (16 visits in S51 vs. 9 in S50).