Summary

In Week 01 (December 30 to January 5, 2020), total emergency department visits and hospitalizations following visits decreased among children (down 11.7%, or 11,174 visits, and down 6.5%, or 622 hospitalizations, respectively) and remained stable among adults.

Highlights from the past week include:

• for gastrointestinal conditions, following a sharp increase in Week 52: 1) visits for vomiting were stable among children and down by 8% among adults (-172 visits), and 2) visits for gastroenteritis were stable among adults and up among children (+10.7%, or +425 visits). These account for 6.5% of total activity among children and 2.2% among adults. Among adults, this share of activity is twice that of the previous two years.

• For respiratory conditions: among adults, there was an increase in visits for influenza/influenza-like illness (+30%, or +373 visits), accompanied by an increase in visits for bronchitis (+13.3%, or +306 visits) and pneumonia (+10.7%, or +507 visits). Visits for influenza/influenza-like illness remain stable among children; this week, no region has entered the epidemic phase for influenza, but all are in the pre-epidemic phase except for Hauts-de-France and Normandy. Among children under 2 years of age, visits for bronchiolitis are down by 12% (218 fewer visits). The epidemic continues in all metropolitan regions as well as in the Antilles, with the exception of Saint-Barthélemy.

Among other indicators, there has been an increase in emergency room visits for trauma among those aged 2–14 and 15–74 (up 6.7% and 7%, respectively), chest pain among those aged 15–74 (up 5.5%), and cardiac decompensation among those aged 75 and older (up 6.5%).