Summary

In Week 22 (May 25–31, 2020), the third week of easing lockdown restrictions, emergency department visits increased across all age groups (+8%, or +23,161 visits). Hospitalizations following emergency department visits rose slightly among children aged 2–14 (+5%, or 151 hospitalizations) and adults aged 15–44 (+6%, or 764 hospitalizations).
Over the past week, 3,700 emergency department visits across all age groups for suspected COVID-19 were recorded (vs. 5,045 visits in Week 21—consolidated data—a 27% decrease). Their share of total activity remained stable at 2%. The proportion of hospitalizations following visits decreased slightly to 34% (vs. 37% in Week 21 – consolidated data).
By region, the highest number of visits was recorded in Île-de-France (29%), Grand-Est (9%), and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (8% of visits).
Since monitoring began on February 24, 2020, 163,640 emergency department visits for suspected COVID-19 have been recorded.
Among other conditions seen in emergency departments, there has been an increase in visits for:

• several seasonal conditions: asthma in those aged 15 and older (+22%, or +152 visits), allergies in children (+8%, or +47 visits), and conjunctivitis in all age groups (+28%, or +264 visits);

• gastrointestinal symptoms in all age groups: vomiting (+8%, or +86 visits) and gastroenteritis (+11%, or +151 visits), abdominal pain (+5%, or +922 visits);

• trauma in all age groups (+7%, or +4,818 visits), neurological conditions in 15- to 44-year-olds (+5%, or +139 visits), and ENT conditions in adults (+7%, or +99 visits).

Among children, there was also an increase in visits—albeit from a small base—for chest pain (+18%) and anxiety disorders (+6%).