Tag Archives: Fairfield CA

Coronavirus, Covid 19, Fairfield CA, Solano County CA, Testing, Vacaville CA, Vallejo CA

Solano County to test first responders and medical personnel this week – FEMA delivers 2500 test kits

Solano County says 88 have COVID-19; testing to begin for first responders on Wednesday

Vallejo Times-Herald, by John Glidden, April 6, 2020

Solano County reported 15 new COVID-19 infections on Monday, bringing the county’s total number of Novel Coronavirus cases to 88.

Officials began posting data on the number of cases in each Solano County city. Officials had originally resisted providing that information, arguing it violated the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

The city of Vallejo has the most COVID-19 cases at 28, closely followed by Fairfield’s 26. Vacaville has 14 reported infections, while the cities of Benicia, Dixon, Rio Vista, Suisun City, and unincorporated areas of the county all had less than 10 cases, according to the county.

Office of Emergency Services Manager Don Ryan said by phone Monday that the county will begin testing first responders and medical personnel at the Solano County Fairgrounds on Wednesday.

He stressed that the testing is not open to the general public, noting that tests for the public may begin next week, depending on supplies and the availability of personnel.

Ryan said the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provided the county with about 2,500 testing kits. The goal is test the medical personnel and first responders through Friday, he said.

“Of course, since they interact with the public so much, we want to make sure they are not spreading it,” he said.

Ryan said he hopes to test about 250 each day.

Vallejo Mayor Bob Sampayan said by phone on Monday said the testing was “sorely needed.”

“I’m thankful they are doing this,” he added.

County officials reported last week that an 85-year-old person was the first confirmed death associated with COVID-19.

They said the individual had recently traveled outside the country and had multiple severe underlying health conditions.

A bulk of the total cases, 64, are considered “non-severe,” according to the county. For this designation, there are 51 cases for individuals between the ages of 19 and 64, and 13 for persons 65 and older.

Coronavirus, Covid 19, Fairfield CA, Solano County CA, Vacaville CA, Vallejo CA

COVID-19 in Solano County – 15 new cases over the weekend, curve continues up, partial city listings, fewer tests

UPDATE: See today’s latest information

Monday, April 6 – 15 new cases – 3 on Saturday, 9 on Sunday, 3 more on Monday, total now 88:

Solano County Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Updates and Resources, April 1, 2020.  Check out basic information in this screenshot.   IMPORTANT: Note the County’s interactive page has more.  On the County website, you can click on “Number of cases” and then hover over the charts for detailed information.

Last report (Friday, April 4):

Summary:

Solano County reported 15 NEW POSITIVE CASES over the weekend and today – total is now 88.  No new deaths in Solano County – still only 1.

For the first time, County officials are disclosing case numbers for Solano cities.  Larger cities show numerical data: Vallejo 28 cases; Fairfield 26 cases; and Vacaville 14 cases.  Smaller cities are not assigned numerical data: all show <10 (less than 10).  Residents and city officials have been pressuring County officials for city case counts for the past two weeks.  Today’s response is welcome, but incomplete.

As of today, 63 positive cases were individuals between the ages of 19 and 64 (72% of the total – up 2% since last report), and 25 were 65 were older, (28% of the total – down 2% since last report).  35 of the 88 are active cases (2 more than previously reported), and 23 of the total cases have resulted in hospitalizations (1 more than previously reported).

TESTING seems to be minimal in Solano County and most recently somewhat on the decline.

Most recent numbers for specimens collected are:

    • 3 on Saturday, April 4
    • 4 on Friday, April 3
    • 6 on Thursday, April 2.

Check out basic information in the screenshots here on Benicia Independent.  IMPORTANT: Note the County’s interactive page has more.  On the County website, you can click on “Number of cases” and then hover over the charts for detailed information.

Solano’s steep upward curve

The chart at right gives a clear picture of the infection’s trajectory in Solano County.  Our coronavirus curve is on a steep uphill climb!

Everyone stay home and be safe!

Crude By Rail, Local Regulation, Oil stabilization, Valero Benicia Refinery, Valero Crude By Rail, Volatility

U.S. Rep. Garamendi praises Benicia City Council for crude-by-rail vote

Repost from the Fairfield Daily Republic

Garamendi praises Benicia City Council for crude-by-rail vote

By Ryan McCarthy, September 23, 2016

FAIRFIELD — Rep. John Garamendi is praising the Benicia City Council for its unanimous vote rejecting a proposed crude oil by rail facility that Valero corporation would have operated and Garamendi said would have led to dangerous railcars traveling through Fairfield, Suisun City, Dixon and Davis.

“The action by the Benicia City Council is a clear signal that shipping oil by rail presents a serious safety problem that must be addressed before our communities are faced with increased oil shipments,” Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, said Thursday in a news release. “The council did the right thing by forcing a pause on oil by rail through our communities.”

The congressman, who represents the 3rd District that includes Fairfield and Suisun City, authored the Bakken Crude Stabilization Act to reduce the volatility of oil transported by rail and make it safer to transport, the release said.

Air Quality, Crude By Rail, donner, Electronically controlled pneumatic braking (ECP), Emergency Readiness & Response, Explosion, Noise pollution, Oil stabilization, Oil storage, Positive Train Control, Revised Draft EIR, Valero Benicia Refinery, Valero Crude By Rail

Davis Enterprise Editorial: Benicia washes its hands of us

Repost from the Davis Enterprise

Our view: Benicia washes its hands of us

By Our View | November 15, 2015

The issue: Bay Area city can’t see past its own back yard on refinery project

The city of Benicia — the only entity capable of exerting any control over the crude-oil shipments set to arrive at a planned expansion of a Valero oil terminal — has shown in a draft environmental impact report that any impact the terminal has on communities farther up the train tracks is none of its business.

THE PROPOSED project would allow Valero to transport crude oil to its Benicia refinery on two 50-car freight trains daily on Union Pacific tracks that come right through Davis, Dixon, Fairfield and Suisun City on their way to Benicia. The rail shipments would replace up to 70,000 barrels per day of crude oil currently transported to the refinery by ship, according to city documents.

The original draft EIR, released in 2014, didn’t adequately address safety and environmental concerns. Local governments — including the city of Davis, Yolo County and the Sacramento Area Council of Governments — weighed in on the draft, urging Benicia to take a second look.

Benicia withdrew the draft and went back to work, and the new document acknowledges the risks of pollution, noise and, oh yes, catastrophic explosions from oil trains, the likes of which leveled Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, in 2013.

Disappointingly, having recognized the issues involved, the report simply says there’s no way to mitigate them and recommends moving ahead. With a bureaucratic shrug of the shoulders, the concerns of communities from Roseville to Suisun City are dismissed.

NATURALLY, SACOG disagrees, and so do we. While it’s true that there’s not a lot Benicia can do itself to mitigate the impact of its project, it can force Valero to do something about it.

SACOG urges a raft of measures that are within Valero’s control: advanced notification to local emergency personnel of all shipments, limits on storage of crude-oil tanks in urban areas, funding to train emergency responders, cars with electronically controlled pneumatic brakes, money for rail-safety improvements, implementation of Positive Train Control protocols and, most importantly, a prohibition on shipments of unstabilized crude oil that hasn’t been stripped of the volatile elements that made Lac-Mégantic and other derailments so catastrophic.

Due to federal laws, cities along the railway lines have no ability to control what goes through. Only Benicia, now, while the project is still on the drawing board, has the authority to set reasonable limits and conditions on a project that puts millions of people along the railroad in harm’s way.

We urge the Benicia City Council to use its discretionary authority in this matter to protect those of us who have no say in the process.