Summary

In week 53 (December 28, 2020, to January 3, 2021), emergency department visits increased among adults (+7%, or +14,964 visits) and among children aged 2–14 (+3%, or +804 visits), and remained stable among children under 2. Hospitalizations following emergency department visits increased among adults (+5%, or 2,768 visits) and among children aged 2–14 (+6%, or 168 visits), and remained stable among children under 2.

In week 53, visits for suspected COVID-19 across all age groups continued to rise for the third consecutive week (+4% in week 53, +3% in week 52, and +11% in week 51). They increased among children under 2 years old (+86%, or +18 visits) and adults (+4%, or +211 visits) and remained stable among 2- to 14-year-olds. In Week 53, suspected COVID-19 remains the third most common diagnosis among those aged 75 and older and the seventh most common among those aged 15–74. A total of 5,434 visits were recorded in Week 53 (vs. 5,208 visits in Week 52—consolidated data as of January 5, 2021). The share of visits for COVID-19 in total activity remains stable at 2.4%, and the proportion of hospitalizations following a visit across all age groups has risen slightly to 56% (compared to 54% in Week 52). At the regional level, visits for suspected COVID-19 are up in Réunion/Mayotte (+211%, or +19 visits), Corsica (+43%, or +3 visits), Hauts-de-France (+30%, or +95 visits), Brittany (+30%, or +20 visits), Normandy (+20%, or +28 visits), French Guiana (+19%, or +6 visits), Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (+16%, or +77 visits), Occitanie (+13%, or +34 visits), Centre-Val de Loire (+10%, or +16 visits), and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (+9%, or +66 visits), and remained stable or declined in the other regions. Since monitoring began on February 24, 2020, 322,071 emergency room visits for suspected COVID-19 have been recorded.

Among seasonal illnesses, the following increases were noted, albeit at very moderate levels: increases in gastroenteritis among children (+6%, or 69 visits) and those aged 15–74 (+18%, or 116 visits), in acute bronchitis among adults (+25%, or 82 visits), and in pneumonia among those aged 75 and older (+13%, or 146 visits).

Among the most common conditions, there was an increase in visits for urinary tract infections across all age groups (+12%, or +501 visits); for trauma and abdominal pain in children (5% and 15% respectively) and those aged 15–74 (+7% for both diagnoses); for neurological disorders (+12%, or 566 visits) and renal colic (+10%, or 276 visits) in those aged 15–74. Finally, there was an increase in cardiac decompensation (+15%, or +220 visits), dyspnea (+17%, or +234 visits), and stroke (+5%, or +71 visits) among those aged 75 and older.