Summary

In week 37 (September 7–13, 2020), emergency department visits rose sharply among children (+37%, or 24,280 visits) and, to a lesser extent, among those aged 15–74 (+7%, or 16,576 visits). Hospitalizations following emergency department visits rose sharply among children (+33%, or 1,975 hospitalizations) and remained stable among adults. Over the past week, the number of visits for suspected COVID-19 has risen by 50% across all age groups (5,421 vs. 3,606 visits in Week 36—consolidated data as of September 15, 2020) and, more specifically, by +124% among children (+243 visits) and +46% among adults (+1,572 visits). The share of visits for COVID-19 in total activity across all age groups has risen slightly (1.8% in Week 37 vs. 1.3% in Week 36), while the proportion of hospitalizations following a visit remains stable at 29%. The increase is observed in all regions without exception. The largest increases are observed in Hauts-de-France (+134%; +203 visits), in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (+134%; +193 visits), in Centre-Val de Loire (+106%; +71 visits), in Occitanie (+102%; +244 visits), in Grand-Est (+90%; +109 visits), in Île-de-France (+87%; +902 visits), and in Normandy (+71%; +93 visits). Since monitoring began on February 24, 2020, 197,670 emergency room visits for suspected COVID-19 have been recorded. Among other conditions, across all age groups, there was an increase in visits for isolated fever (+25%, or +901 visits), malaise (+11%, or 1,043 visits), and asthma (+154%, or +2,564 visits among children, and +37%, or +264 visits among adults). These increases are typically observed at the start of the school year; however, the rise in visits for asthma and isolated fever appears more pronounced in 2020 than in the previous two years. Among children aged 0 to 14, there was also an increase in visits for ENT infections (+110%, or 5,769 visits) and a sharp rise in visits for bronchiolitis (+225%) and cough (+150%) specifically among children under 2 years of age.