Summary

In Week 03 (January 18–24, 2021), for the third consecutive week, both emergency room visits and hospitalizations following emergency room visits increased among children (up 9%, or 5,261 visits, and up 9%, or 545 hospitalizations, respectively). Among adults, these indicators remained stable.

For the second consecutive week, visits due to suspected COVID-19 across all age groups are on the rise (+18%). This increase applies to all age groups: +48% among children under 2 years old (i.e., +19 visits), +81% among 2- to 14-year-olds (i.e., +48 visits), +20% among 15- to 74-year-olds (i.e., +782 visits), and +11% among those aged 75 and older (i.e., +237 visits). Suspected COVID-19 remains the third most common diagnosis among those aged 75 and older and the seventh most common among those aged 15–74. In total, 7,221 visits were recorded in Week 03 (vs. 6,135 visits in Week 02—consolidated data as of January 26, 2021). The share of visits for COVID-19 in total activity rose slightly to 3% (vs. 2.6% in Week 02), and the proportion of hospitalizations following a visit across all age groups remained stable at 58%. At the regional level, visits for suspected COVID-19 increased in 9 metropolitan regions. The largest increases were observed in Île-de-France (+31%, or +293 visits), PACA (+25%, or +236 visits), Hauts-de-France (+36%, or +139 visits), and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (+12%, or +101 visits). Since monitoring began on February 24, 2020, 340,814 emergency department visits for suspected COVID-19 have been recorded.

Among seasonal conditions, increases were observed across all age groups for ENT conditions (+31%, or +1,851 visits), isolated fever (+29%, or +606 visits), as well as for gastroenteritis (+15%, or +303 visits) and vomiting (+19%, or +300 visits). Among children, visits for respiratory conditions are on the rise, though at levels well below those of previous years (except for asthma, which remains at usual levels). Of note is the increase in visits and hospitalizations following visits for bronchiolitis among children under 2 years of age (respectively +51%, or +265 visits, and +38%, or +70 hospitalizations). Finally, visits for general malaise are on the rise among those aged 2–14 (+20%, or +79 visits) and those aged 15–74 (+5%, or +243 visits).