Key Points

• In Week 28 (July 11–17, 2022), emergency department visits rose slightly among children under 2 and adults aged 15–74 (+4%, or +11,750 visits) and remained stable in other age groups. Hospitalizations following emergency department visits were stable or declining across all age groups.

• First week of stabilization following five consecutive weeks of increases in visits for suspected COVID-19 across all age groups (9,941 vs. 10,135 visits, a decrease of 2% compared to a 25% increase in Week 27). Children under 2 and those aged 75 and older remain slightly up (+3% and +4%, or +94 and +36 visits, respectively), while those aged 2–14 and 15–74 are down (-15% and -4%, or -73 and -250 visits, respectively). The share of activity across all age groups is also stabilizing, while the proportion of hospitalizations following a visit continues to rise slightly (32% vs. 31% in Week 27). At the regional level, numbers continue to rise in four regions: Réunion (+34%, or 21 visits), Occitanie (+13%, or 107 visits), Grand-Est (+12%, or 67 visits), and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (+9%, or 40 visits); they are stable or declining in the other regions.

• Since monitoring began on February 24, 2020, 838,674 emergency department visits for suspected COVID-19 have been recorded.

• In connection with the heat wave, a sharp increase in all seasonal indicators is observed.

• Across all age groups, there has been an increase in visits for hyperthermia and heatstroke (+243%, or +308 visits) and dehydration (+60%, or +223 visits), with children under 2 and those aged 75 and older being particularly affected. Across all age groups, there has been an increase in visits for insect bites (+26%, or +549 visits), conjunctivitis (+14%, or +175 visits), and allergies (+11%, or +356 visits). Among children, there was an increase in visits for gastroenteritis (+15%, or +420 visits), and among those under 2 years of age, for vomiting (+12%, or +50 visits). Finally, among adults, there was an increase in visits for asthma attacks (+11%, or +103 visits), among those aged 15–74 for renal colic (+9%, or +352 visits) and ENT infections (+16%, or +559 visits), and among those aged 75 and older for isolated fever (+9%, or +36 visits) and urinary tract infections (+7%, or +86 visits).

• Regarding chickenpox, case numbers are on the rise among those aged 2–14 (36%, or 213 additional visits) and those aged 15–74 (39%, or 25 additional visits), with a higher proportion of cases than in previous years.