Summary

In Week 09 (March 1–7, 2021), emergency department visits and hospitalizations following visits remained stable across all age groups (up 1.1%, or 3,408 visits, and up 0.6%, or 396 hospitalizations, respectively). In Week 9, following one week of stabilization in Week 7 and one week of increase in Week 8 (+8%), visits for suspected COVID-19 across all age groups remained stable (+1.3%), as did their share of total activity (7,653 visits and a 3.0% share of activity in Week 09 vs. 7,554 visits and 2.9% in Week 08). Analysis by age group shows, with low numbers, an increase among 2- to 14-year-olds (+12%, or +9 visits) and, to a lesser extent, among 15- to 74-year-olds (+2.3%, or +124 visits), a stabilization among those aged 75 and older (-1.4%, or -28 visits), and a decrease among those under 2 years old (-11%, or -5 visits).

Suspected COVID-19 is the fifth most common diagnosis among those aged 15–74 and the third most common among those aged 75 and older. The proportion of hospitalizations following a visit across all age groups remains stable at 58% (vs. 56% in S08). At the regional level, visits for suspected COVID-19 are on the rise in Hauts-de-France (+8%, or +53 visits), PACA (+6%, or +68 visits), Normandy (+17%, or +35 visits), Brittany (+25%, or +32 visits), and to a lesser extent in Nouvelle-Aquitaine (+5%, or +20 visits), Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (+4%, or +14 visits) and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (+3%, or +21 visits), as well as in Réunion (+25%, or +15 visits). Since monitoring began on February 24, 2020, 387,458 emergency room visits for suspected COVID-19 have been recorded.

Among seasonal and common conditions, most indicators are stable or declining. Notable increases were observed among children under 15 for vomiting (+15%, or +146 visits) and abdominal pain (+10%, or +133 visits), and among 2- to 14-year-olds for general malaise (+17%, or +62 visits).