Summary

In Week 7 (February 12–18), all-cause emergency department visits rose slightly across all age groups (+3%). Hospitalizations following emergency department visits remained stable.

Visits for seasonal illnesses were mostly on the rise. Flu activity showed mixed trends, continuing to decline among children while increasing among adults after five consecutive weeks of decline (+20% among those aged 15–74, +59% among those aged 75 and older). Additionally, across all age groups, there was an increase in visits for bronchitis (+17%, or +387 visits) and pneumonia (+10%, or +438 visits). The increase in visits for ENT conditions is more pronounced among adults (+13%) than among children (+7%), for a total increase of +1,120 visits. The only increase in visits observed exclusively among children (ages 2–14) concerns gastroenteritis (+17%, or 583 visits). Among non-specific indicators, there was an increase in visits across all age groups for conjunctivitis (+16%, or +163 visits) and allergies (+10%, or +185 visits). Only among adults was there an increase in visits for isolated fever (+7%, or +84 visits).

Among the most common conditions, there was an increase in visits for burns (+19%, or 34 visits) among children under 2 years of age and for specific abdominal pain (+6%, or 117 visits) among children under 15 years of age. Among adults, the increase in visits was seen across most diagnoses, with moderate increases of less than 10%.