Key Points

In week 24 (June 13–19, 2022), emergency department visits remained stable across all age groups. Hospitalizations remained stable across all age groups, with the exception of a slight increase among those aged 75 and older (+7%, or +1,566 hospitalizations).

For the third consecutive week, Week 24 saw an increase in visits due to suspected COVID-19 across all age groups (4,018 vs. 2,600 visits, or +53% vs. +36% in Week 23). This increase applies to all age groups. Suspected COVID-19 is the 10th most common reason for emergency department visits among children under 2 years of age. The share of activity has risen slightly (1.2% vs. 0.8% in Week 23), as has the proportion of hospitalizations following visits (32.4% vs. 31.8% in Week 23). At the regional level, emergency department visits for suspected COVID-19 are on the rise in all regions except Réunion, Mayotte (stable), and Guadeloupe (declining). The largest increases are observed in Brittany, Corsica, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Normandy, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, and PACA.

Since monitoring began on February 24, 2020, 804,271 emergency department visits for suspected COVID-19 have been recorded.

Among other indicators, the following are observed:

• Linked to summer weather and high temperatures: an increase in visits for hyperthermia and heatstroke (+436%, or +606 visits), dehydration (+85%, or 270 visits), and to a lesser extent, insect bites (+26%, or +35 visits), malaise (+17%, or 1,937 visits) and isolated fever (+15%, or 975 visits).

• Among children, there was also an increase in visits for vomiting (+15%, or 189 visits) and ENT infections (+7%, or 744 visits).

• Visits for chickenpox remain stable at a high level compared to the previous two seasons but are comparable to the years 2018 and 2019.