Key Points

In Week 43 (October 25–31, 2021), emergency department visits and subsequent hospitalizations increased among children under 2 years of age (up 9%, or 3,002 visits, and up 10%, or 443 hospitalizations, respectively); they remained stable or declined in other age groups.

Visits for suspected COVID-19 across all age groups are up for the second consecutive week (1,707 visits vs. 1,522 in Week 42, +12% or +185 visits). The share of activity remains stable at 0.5%, as does the proportion of hospitalizations following visits across all age groups (51%). The number of visits is rising among those aged 15–74 (+14%, or +158 visits) and those aged 75 and older (+8%, or +28 visits), while remaining stable among children. At the regional level, 7 regions are showing moderate increases: Corsica (+130%, or +13 visits), Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (+45%, or +59 visits), PACA (+40%, or +45 visits), Brittany (+34%, or +11 visits), French Guiana (+30%, or +8 visits), Normandy (+21%, or +9 visits), and Grand-Est (+13%, or +14 visits). Since monitoring began on February 24, 2020, 569,470 emergency department visits for suspected COVID-19 have been recorded.

Seasonal respiratory indicators continue to rise for pneumonia (+9%, or +356 visits) across all age groups, as well as for bronchiolitis (+24%, or +839 visits) among children under 2 years of age and bronchitis (+6%, or +87 visits) among adults. The levels observed for respiratory indicators are higher than those of the previous three years, particularly among children (except for influenza, which is comparable). Visits for conjunctivitis across all age groups (+12%, or +142 visits) as well as cough (+20%, or +99 visits), abdominal pain (+15%, or +90 visits), and vomiting (+9%, or +61 visits) among children under 2 years of age, are also on the rise. Finally, there was an increase in visits for urinary tract infections (+9%, or +435 visits) among adults.