[Source: Solano County Coronavirus Dashboard.  For a complete archive of day by day data, see my Excel ARCHIVE.]

Monday, November 16: 230 new cases over the weekend, no new deaths, no new reports of hospitalizations.  Since the outbreak began: 8,959 cases, 545 hospitalized, 79 deaths.Compare previous report, Friday, Nov. 13:Summary

• Solano County reported 230 new cases over the weekend, following last week’s huge increase of over 700 cases.  Total of 8,959 cases since the outbreak started.
• Deaths – no new deaths reported today, total of 79 Solano deaths since the pandemic began.
• Active cases – Solano reported 106 fewer active cases today, total of 612.  Active cases have increased alarmingly lately – COMPARE: average number of Active Cases during October was 284 – now we are at 612!  Note that only 36 of these 612 individuals are hospitalized, so there are a lot of infected folks out among us, hopefully quarantined.  Is the County equipped to contact trace so many infected persons?  Who knows?  To my knowledge, Solano County has offered no reports on contact tracing.
• Hospitalizations – Solano County reported the number of CURRENTLY hospitalized persons decreased by 4 today, total of 36.  TOTAL hospitalized since the outbreak began supposedly remained steady today, a total of 545 of all ages hospitalized since the outbreak began.   CAUTION: According to a November 7 email from Dr. Bela Matyas, the County occasionally updates Age Group hospitalizations retroactively.  This accounts for the sudden 106 additions on October 29, a one-day increase of 25% in total hospitalizations.  Those 106 had never been recorded as CURRENTLY hospitalized.  My take on this is that the County’s daily updates on hospitalizations are nearly meaningless.  Nonetheless, I will continue to track both CURRENT hospitalizations and TOTAL hospitalizations since the outbreak began.  For manual calculation of total, see age group stats below.
• ICU Beds – The County reported fewer ICU beds available today, down from 29% to 21% and remaining in the yellow danger zone.  (Still no information about availability of ventilators.)

Positive Test Rate – extremely high, 9.8%

Solano County reported that our 7-day average positive test rate fell slightly today from 10.1% to 9.8%.  Average percent positive test rates are among the best metrics for measuring the spread of the virus.  The much lower and more stable California 7-day average test rate has also been on the rise lately, but rose today from 4.4% to 5.0%.  (Note that Solano County displays past weeks and months in a 7-day test positivity line graph which also shows daily results.  However, the chart does not display an accurate number of cases for the most recent days, as there is a lag time in receiving test results.  The 7-day curve also lags behind current unknown results.) 

By Age Group

• Youth 17 and under – 31 new cases over the weekend, total of 1,052 cases, representing 11.7% of the 8,959 total cases.  No new hospitalizations reported today.  Thankfully, no deaths have ever been reported in Solano County in this age group.  But cases among Solano youth rose steadily over the summer, from 5.6% of total cases on June 8 to 11% on August 31 and has plateaued at over 11% since September 30.  Youth are 22% of Solano’s general population, so this 11.x% may seem low.  The significance is this: youth are SERIOUSLY NOT IMMUNE (!) – in fact 14 youth have now been hospitalized.
• Persons 18-49 years of age – 142 new cases over the weekend, total of 5,248 cases. This age group is 41% of the population in Solano, but represents just under 60% of the total cases, by far the highest percentage of all age groups. No new hospitalizations reported today, total of 181.  No new deaths in this young group today, total of 6 deaths.  Some in this group are surely ignoring public health orders, and many are providing essential services among us.  I expect this group is a major factor in the spread of the virus.
• Persons 50-64 years of age – 38 new cases over the weekend, total of 1,722 cases.  This age group represents over 19% of the 8,959 total cases.  No new hospitalizations reported today, total of 152.  No new deaths in this age group today, a total of 15 deaths.
• Persons 65 years or older – 19 new cases today, total of 933, representing 10.6% of Solano’s 8,959 total cases.  No new hospitalizations reported today, total of 198 since the outbreak began.  No new deaths in this age group today, total of 58 of our elders who died of COVID.  This group accounts for 58 of the 79 total deaths, or 73%.

City Data

• Benicia added 10 new cases over the weekend, total of 239 cases since the outbreak began.
• Dixon added 18 new cases over the weekend, total of 574 cases.
• Fairfield added 60 new cases over the weekend, total of 2,803 cases.
• Rio Vista added 1 new case over the weekend, total of 73 cases.
• Suisun City added 9 new cases over the weekend, total of 628 cases.
• Vacaville added 67 new cases over the weekend, total of 1,746 cases.
• Vallejo added 61 new cases over the weekend, total of 2,865 cases.
• Unincorporated areas added 4 new cases over the weekend, total of 31 cases.

Race / Ethnicity

The County report on race / ethnicity includes case numbers, hospitalizations, deaths and Solano population statistics.  This information is discouragingly similar to national reports that indicate significantly worse outcomes among black and brown Americans.  Note that all of this data surely undercounts Latinx Americans, as there is a large group of “Multirace / Others” which likely is composed mostly of Latinx members of our communities.

• Asian Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 10% of cases, 11% of hospitalizations, and 19% of deaths.
• Black Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 12% of cases, but 18% of hospitalizations, and 23% of deaths.
• Latinx Americans are 26% of Solano’s population, but account for 25% of cases, 28% of hospitalizations, and 17% of deaths.
• White Americans are 39% of the population in Solano County, but only account for 24% of cases, 25% of hospitalizations and 32% of deaths.

More…

The County’s Coronavirus Dashboard is full of much more information, too extensive to cover here on a daily basis.  The Benicia Independent will continue to summarize daily and highlight significant portions.  For more, check out the Dashboard at https://doitgis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=055f81e9fe154da5860257e3f2489d67.