Key Points

In Week 29 (July 18–24, 2022), emergency room visits and hospitalizations declined among children (by 9% and 6%, respectively) and remained stable among adults.

After five consecutive weeks of increases and one week of stabilization, visits for suspected COVID-19 across all age groups are down (8,001 vs. 10,007 visits, or -20% vs. -1% in Week 28). This decline applies to all age groups. The proportion of cases across all age groups is down (2.4% vs. 2.9% in Week 28), while the proportion of hospitalizations following a visit continues to rise slightly (34% vs. 32% in Week 28). At the regional level, numbers remain on the rise in three regions with low case counts: Mayotte (+80%, or +4 visits), Corsica (+20%, or +20 visits), and Réunion (+20%, or +17 visits); they are declining in the other regions.

Since monitoring began on February 24, 2020, 846,853 emergency department visits for suspected COVID-19 have been recorded.

In connection with the heat wave, there has been an increase in visits due to dehydration among children aged 2–14 (+34%, or +15 visits) and adults (+20%, or +103 visits), for malaise among children under 2 years old (+21%, or +38 visits) and adults (+7%, or +872 visits), as well as for hyperthermia and heatstroke among adults (+24%, or +71 visits). Most other indicators are stable or declining. However, there was an increase in visits for vomiting among 2- to 14-year-olds (+9%, or +88 visits), for chest pain among adults (+8%, or +679 visits), and for shortness of breath among those aged 75 and older (+12%, or +175 visits).