Summary

In Week 21 (May 18–24, 2020), the second week of easing lockdown restrictions, emergency department visits and hospitalizations following such visits increased among children (+22%, or +7,961 visits) and among adults (+12%, or +25,736 visits). Hospitalizations following emergency department visits remained stable in Week 21.

Over the past week, 4,953 emergency department visits across all age groups for suspected COVID-19 were recorded (vs. 5,950 visits in Week 20—consolidated data—a 17% decrease). These visits accounted for 2% of total activity (vs. 3% in Week 20). The proportion of hospitalizations following visits remained stable at 36% (38% in Week 20 – consolidated data). Among children, there was a slight increase in the number of visits due to suspected COVID-19 (321 in S21 vs. 247 in S20); however, their share of activity remained stable at 0.9%. Regionally, 40% of visits were observed in Île-de-France. Among the other regions, the most affected were Grand-Est (14%), Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (12% of visits), and Hauts-de-France (10%). Since the start of surveillance on February 24, 2020, 159,937 emergency department visits for suspected COVID-19 have been recorded.

Among other conditions seen in emergency departments, an increase in visits was observed across all age groups for trauma (+25%, or +13,819 visits), allergies (+50%, or +610 visits), conjunctivitis (+51%, or +315 visits), asthma (+22%, or +177 visits), gastroenteritis (+21%, or +239 visits), ENT conditions (+18%, or +415 visits), and general malaise (+9%, or +682 visits). There was also an increase in visits among children for stroke (27 visits in S21 vs. 10 in S20).