Solano COVID report: 2 more deaths today, test positivity rate climbs to 7%


[For a complete archive of day by day data, see my Excel ARCHIVE – R.S.]

Monday, August 24: 158 new cases over the weekend, 2 new deaths.  Since the outbreak started: 5,206 cases, 46 deaths.Compare previous report, Friday August 21:Summary

  • Solano County reported 158 new cases today, total of 5,206 cases since the outbreak started.  Over the last 2 weeks, Solano reported 932 new cases, an average of 67 per day.
  • Deaths – 2 new deaths today, total of 46 Solano deaths.  The 2 COVID victims  were both in the 50-64 year age range.
  • Active cases – Solano reported 45 fewer ACTIVE cases today, total of 316.  Note that only 36 of these 316 people 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?
  • Hospitalizations – the number of currently hospitalized persons were 4 fewer today, total of 36.  The total number hospitalized since the outbreak started increased by 1, total of 278.  (Note that the County no longer reports Total Hospitalized, but we can add the new hospitalization numbers in the Age Group report – see below.)  For a fifth week now, the County offers no information about availability of ICU beds and ventilators.
  • Testing – The County reports today that 1762 more residents were tested over the weekend, new total of 69,895.  Solano has a long way to go: only 15.6% of Solano County’s 447,643 residents (2019) have been tested.

Positive Test Rate

Solano County reported today that our 7-day average test rate rose to 7.0% for the first time in over a month, increasing from 6.2% on Friday and up from 4.1% on August 11.  The County’s 7-day test rate peaked at 9.3% on July 22.  Health officials and news reports focus on percent positive test rates as one of the best metrics for measuring the spread of the virus.  The California 7-day rate dropped from 6.4% on Friday to 5.6% today – encouraging(Note that Solano County displays past weeks and months in a 7-day test positivity curve chart 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 – 30 (!) new cases today, total of 558 cases.  No new hospitalizations among this age group, a total of 5 hospitalizations since the outbreak began.  Thankfully, no deathsIt is clear that our young people are catching the disease, with a recent increase in hospitalizations.  It seems too many youth are ignoring public health orders.  Cases among Solano youth are 10.7% of the 5,206 total confirmed cases.
  • Persons 18-49 years of age – 74 new cases today, total of 3,157 cases. This age group is 41% of the population in Solano, but represents over 60% of the 5,206 total cases, by far the highest percentage of all age groups.  The County reported 1 new hospitalization in this age group today, total of 88 hospitalized since the outbreak began.  No new deaths among this age group today, total of 4 deaths.  This age group is very active.  Some are surely ignoring public health orders, and many are providing essential services among us.  I expect his group is a major factor in the spread of the virus.
  • Persons 50-64 years of age – 44 new cases today, total of 1,066 cases.  This age group represents just over 20% of the 5,206 total cases.  No new hospitalizations, total of 77 hospitalized since the outbreak began.  2 new deaths in this age group today, a total of 6 deaths.
  • Persons 65 years or older – 11 new case today, total of 484 cases.  This age group represents 9.3% of the 5,206 total cases. No new hospitalizations today, total of 108 hospitalized since the outbreak began.  In this older age group, just over 22% of cases required hospitalization at one time.  This is a much higher percentage than in the lower age groups.  No new deaths were reported in this age group today, total of 36 deaths.  This group accounts for 36 of the 46 deaths, or 78%.

City Data

  • Benicia added 1 new case today, total of 123 cases since the outbreak began.
  • Dixon added 13 new cases today, total of 359 cases.
  • Fairfield added 50 new cases today, total of 1,651.
  • Rio Vista added 1 new cast today, total of 37 cases.
  • Suisun City added 7 new cases today, total of 370 cases.
  • Vacaville added 21 new cases today, total of 885 cases.
  • Vallejo added 63 new cases today, total of 1,762 cases.
  • Unincorporated areas – Unincorporated areas remained steady today, total of 17 cases.

Race / Ethnicity

Solano County COVID-19 Death Rate per 100,000, by Race/Ethnicity as of Aug 24, 2020

The County report on race / ethnicity includes case numbers, hospitalizations, deaths and Solano population statistics.  Today I am featuring the tab that shows a calculated rate per 100,000 by race/ethnicity.  This information is discouragingly similar to national reports that indicate worse outcomes among black and brown Americans.  Note that the Death Rate comparison here is imperfect, as there is a large group of “Multirace / Others” with a death rate higher than every other group.  Perhaps the best measure is to compare each group to the County’s overall death rate of 10.2/100K.  Even then, I am suspicious of the relatively low rate among Latinx Americans – many of them are no doubt included in the Multirace / Other grouping.  As of today:

  • Asian Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 9% of cases and 11% of hospitalizations, but 17% of deaths.  The death rate for Solano Asian Americans is 11.0 per 100K.
  • Black Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 12% of cases, but 19% of hospitalizations, and 24% of deaths.  The death rate for Black Americans is 15.8 per 100K.
  • Latinx Americans are 26% of Solano’s population, but account for 27% of cases, 32% of hospitalizations, and 28% of deaths.  The death rate for Latinx Americans is 9.4 per 100K.
  • White Americans are 39% of the population in Solano County, but only account for 21% of cases, 21% of hospitalizations and 21% of deaths.  The death rate for Solano Whites is 5.1 per 100K.

Much more…

The County’s new and improved 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 a report or two.  Check out the Dashboard at https://doitgis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=055f81e9fe154da5860257e3f2489d67.