accidents are more rare, but sometimes more serious. The passages to the emergency room for accidents of everyday life have fallen by half during the confinement, but the severe cases have sometimes increased, such as for falls in the home or injuries related to gardening, according to a study published Wednesday by public Health, France. The accidents of everyday life (which occur in the home, during activities of sport and leisure, or still at school), which therefore exclude road accidents, cause, each year in France, 5 million trips to the emergency room, several hundred hospitalizations, and 20,000 deaths.

in order To follow more precisely their evolution, by type, age and injury, very accurate information is collected every year with a dozen of emergency services, to approximately 600. These data reveal a decrease of 55 % (7 of 115 from 15 881) the number of passages to the emergency room due to accidents of everyday life during the containment (17 march to 11 may), imposed to curb the epidemic of Covid-19, compared to the same period of 2019.

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This decline, which affects all ages and both men and women, is not really surprising, the closure of schools and the prohibition of outside activities has significantly reduced the accidents occurring in these circumstances. But it could also be related to the fear of going to emergency rooms because of the Covid-19. Little exception, however, for the smaller (under 2 years), for which the passages to the emergency room have increased for ingestion of foreign bodies, crushing/cutting, poisoning chemicals or even burns.

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Falls and injuries from gardening

The number of severe cases seen in the emergency room also decreased, but to a lesser extent (- 13 %). The serious cases that occurred at home, in contrast, have increased by 20 % in children and 25% for more than 45 years, according to the study. For children, this increase is particularly related to falls, particularly in the 2 to 6 years of age. "Changing modes of family living due to the containment (telework, continuous monitoring of several children at home, school at home, concern in connection with the disease, etc) was able to modify the behaviour of the parents vis-à-vis the surveillance of their children," noted the study of public Health in France.

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The falls are also in part responsible for the increase in serious cases of domestic accidents in the 65-84, according to the text that points the finger at the limitation of the mobility and social ties, as well as the psychological effects of the epidemic in the accident risk for this age group. Spending more time at home, the French are also engaged in domestic work, " with the use of tools or equipment difficult to use or unknown to some, resulting in more accidents ". The survey highlights an increase in cases of severe accident of gardening in the 45-74 years of age.