Key Points

In Week 22 (May 30–June 5, 2022), emergency department visits and hospitalizations following emergency department visits remained stable across all age groups.

After six consecutive weeks of decline, Week 22 saw an increase in visits for suspected COVID-19 across all age groups (1,893 vs. 1,546 visits, or +23% vs. -24% in Week 21). The increase across age groups is highly variable (+43% among those under 2 years old, +3% among 2- to 14-year-olds, +29% among 15- to 74-year-olds, +10% among those 75 and older). The proportion of cases is slightly higher (0.6% vs. 0.5% in S21), while the proportion of hospitalizations continues to decline (36% vs. 39% in S21). At the regional level, emergency department visits for suspected COVID-19 are on the rise in most mainland regions. The sharpest increases are observed in Île-de-France (+62%, or +160 visits), Grand-Est (+38%, or +39 visits), and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (+34%, or +54 visits).

Since monitoring began on February 24, 2020, 796,923 emergency department visits for suspected COVID-19 have been recorded.

Among other indicators, we observe:

• a sharp decline in visits for chickenpox across all age groups (-29% among children, -37% among those aged 15–74), though visit and post-visit hospitalization rates remain higher than those observed in 2021 and 2020;

• visits for general malaise are on the rise among 2- to 14-year-olds (+24%, or +127 visits) and adults (+10%, or +981 visits);

• among adults, an increase in visits for asthma attacks (+24%, or +322 visits) among those aged 15–74;

• among children only, an increase in visits for urinary tract infections among those under 2 years of age and for neurological disorders among those aged 2–14.