Key Points

In Week 03 (January 16–22, 2023), emergency room visits increased among children under 2 years of age (+8%, or 1,410 visits) and remained stable in other age groups. Hospitalizations following visits continued to rise among children aged 2–14 (+5%, or 220 additional hospitalizations) and remained stable in other age groups.

In this third week of the new school year, we observe among children a continued sharp rise in visits and hospitalizations for asthma (+45%, or +834 visits), which are at levels higher than those observed in previous years; among 15- to 74-year-olds, an increase is also observed but much more moderate (+10%, or +88 visits). Other respiratory conditions are also on the rise among children: ENT conditions (+16%, or +498 visits) among children under 2 years old, acute bronchitis among 2- to 14-year-olds (+16%, or +26 visits), and pneumonia (+6%, or +24 visits).

Regarding seasonal respiratory epidemics, visits and hospitalizations for influenza/influenza-like illness and suspected COVID-19 continue to decline across all age groups. Among children under 2 years of age, bronchiolitis remains stable at a level observed in previous years but still remains high.

Excluding respiratory conditions and still focusing on children, there was an increase in visits among children under 2 years of age for vomiting (+12%, or +55 visits) and isolated fever (+7%, or +101 visits), and among children under 15 years of age for scarlet fever (+35%, or +70 visits), with visit and post-visit hospitalization rates higher than those observed in previous years. Among children under 2 and adults, a few rare increases were observed for trauma (+9% and +7%, or +168 and +3,927 visits, respectively) and gastroenteritis (+6% and +30%, or +54 and +45 visits, respectively, among those aged 75 and older, exclusively for adults).