Key Points

COVID-19

• The circulation of SARS-CoV-2 continued to decline in S45, and hospital indicators continued their downward trend.

• In Week 45, the adjusted regional incidence rate (accounting for the effect of November 11) was 225 positive cases per 100,000 inhabitants (a decrease of 8% compared to Week 44). Virological indicators remained generally on a downward trend in Week 45 (adjusted testing rate stable at 870 per 100,000 inhabitants, a decrease of 1%, and positivity rate at 26%, a decrease of 2 percentage points).

• Seekings of care for suspected Covid-19 stabilized at a low level in Week 45 in the region’s emergency departments and decreased among SOS Médecins associations. In hospitals, new hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients continued to decline, as did new admissions to critical care units. Deaths among hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2 were also declining again in Week 45.

Bronchiolitis

• Bronchiolitis epidemic phase since Week 41.

• In week 45, healthcare utilization (emergency department visits and SOS Médecins interventions) for bronchiolitis among children under 2 years of age remained at a very high level, with activity rates still rising but case numbers tending to stabilize.

• Hospitalizations following emergency department visits also remained high but were likewise tending to stabilize.

• A stabilization in RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) isolates—the virus responsible for winter bronchiolitis outbreaks—was also reported by the virology laboratories at the Nantes and Angers University Hospitals in S45.

Influenza and influenza-like illness

• Indicators of healthcare utilization (emergency department visits and SOS Médecins calls) for influenza remain at their baseline levels in week 45. Nationally, Brittany has been in the pre-epidemic phase for influenza since week 44.