Key Points

In Week 7 (February 13–19, 2023), emergency department visits increased among children under 2 years of age (+8%, or 1,604 more visits), remained stable among adults, and decreased among children aged 2–14. Hospitalizations following emergency department visits remained stable across all age groups.

Among children aged 2–14, the decline in activity applies to nearly all indicators, except for suicide attempts (+11%, or +13 visits) and acute bronchitis (+8%).

Apart from asthma, all respiratory indicators are slightly up among children under 2 and adults:

• influenza/flu-like illness, up for the fourth consecutive week (+18%, or +89 and +417 visits (among those aged 15–74 only), respectively);

• COVID-19 (+15% and +23% respectively, 70 visits vs. 61 among children under 2 and 867 visits vs. 704 among adults);

• acute bronchitis (+11%, or +206 and +129 visits, respectively);

• ENT conditions (+8% and +5%, or +351 and +211 visits, respectively);

• pneumonia (+16%, or 25 more visits among children under 2);

• dyspnea/respiratory failure (+12%, or +203 visits among those aged 75 and older).

In these same age groups, there was also an increase in visits for acute gastroenteritis (+18% and +11%, or +215 and +161 visits, respectively), isolated fever (+9% and +16%, or +130 and +174 visits, respectively), and dehydration (+22% and +23%, or +9 and +46 visits, respectively). Note a slight increase in visits for urinary tract infections (+6%, or +98 visits) among those aged 75 and older.