Key Points

In Week 9 (February 28–March 6, 2022), emergency room visits and hospitalizations following visits remained stable among adults and increased among children: ages 2–14 (+14%, or 8,444 more visits, and +8%, or 406 more hospitalizations) and under 2 years old (+4%, or 960 more visits, and +4%, or 153 more hospitalizations).

Visits for suspected COVID-19 across all age groups continued to decline for the sixth consecutive week (3,812 vs. 4,419 visits, a decrease of 14% in Week 9 vs. 29% in Week 8). The share of activity is also down slightly (1.2% vs. 1.4% in W08), as is the proportion of hospitalizations following visits (43% vs. 46% in W08).

This decline is observed among adults, while an increase (low numbers) is observed among children aged 2–14 (+10%, or +24 visits) and those under 2 years of age (+4%, or +12 visits). Among children under 2 and adults aged 75 and older, COVID-19 is the 10th most common condition in emergency departments. At the regional level, emergency department visits for suspected COVID-19 are stable or declining in most regions. A slight increase is observed in Normandy (+17%, or +21 visits) and Brittany
(+8%, or +11 visits).

Since monitoring began on February 24, 2020, 731,153 emergency department visits for suspected COVID-19 have been recorded.

In connection with the start of the school year in Zones A and B, other indicators are rising among children, particularly those aged 2–14. The observed increases range from +10% for ENT conditions (equivalent to +756 visits) to +26% for influenza/flu-like illness (equivalent to +296 visits).

Visits for influenza/flu-like illness are on the rise across all age groups (+26% across all ages, or +592 visits).

Finally, among the most common conditions, there was an increase in visits for cardiac decompensation among those aged 75 and older (+8%, or +130 visits).