Key Points

In Week 41 (October 11–17, 2021), emergency department visits remained stable among adults and increased among children (+8%, or +8,543 visits). Hospitalizations following emergency department visits rose among children under 2 years of age (+11%, or +376 hospitalizations).

After several weeks of decline, visits for suspected COVID-19 across all age groups have stabilized (+3% vs. -13% in Week 40), with 1,360 visits recorded (vs. 1,321 in Week 40, or +39 visits) and a stable share of activity at 0.4%. The proportion of hospitalizations following visits across all age groups stands at 48% (vs. 50% in Week 40). At the regional level, 9 regions are seeing increases, albeit from low baseline numbers. The most significant increases are observed in Centre-Val de Loire (+70%, or +19 visits), Guadeloupe (+35%, or +9 visits), Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (+25%, or +13 visits), and Île-de-France (+8%, or +20 visits). Since the start of surveillance on February 24, 2020, 565,564 emergency department visits for suspected COVID-19 have been recorded.

Seasonal respiratory indicators are on the rise. Visits for bronchiolitis continue to increase among children under 2 years of age (+32%, or +594 visits), accounting for 11% of activity (vs. 9% in Week 40) and a hospitalization rate of 34% (vs. 36% in Week 40). Also notable is the increase in visits for bronchitis (+15%, or +262 visits across all ages), influenza/flu-like illness in adults (+31%, or +50 visits), pneumonia, and ENT conditions in children (+25% and +13% respectively, or +118 and +1,566 visits).

Among other indicators, we note the increase in visits for gastroenteritis across all ages (+14%, or +612 visits) and vomiting in children aged 2–14 (+12%, or +104 visits).