Key Points

• In Week 18 (April 29–May 5, 2024), the final week of the Easter break for Zone B, emergency department visits and hospitalizations following emergency department visits increased among children aged 2–14 (up 10%, or 5,496 visits, and up 5%, or 228 hospitalizations, respectively) and remained stable in other age groups.

• In line with the gradual resumption of school activities, half of the increase in emergency department visits among children aged 2–14 is due to trauma (+13%, or 2,438 more visits among 2–14-year-olds). To a lesser extent, it also involves visits for asthma attacks (+11%, or 108 more visits), coughs (+10%, or 84 more visits), and allergies (+16%, or 83 more visits).

• Visits for infectious conjunctivitis are slightly up, though numbers remain low (+10% among 2- to 14-year-olds, or 22 additional visits, and +12% among adults, or 67 additional visits). Chickenpox has been steadily increasing for several weeks among adults, with about 100 visits recorded in Week 18 (+21% compared to the previous week).

• Finally, while case numbers remain low, there has been a steady increase in visits for suspected COVID-19 across all age groups, both in terms of case numbers and as a share of total activity, between weeks 15 and 18 (rising from 181 to 261 visits and from 0.5% to 0.8% of total activity across all ages).