Category Archives: Vacaville CA

ICU Hospital Bed Capacity in Vacaville and Vallejo Among Most Impacted in Bay Area

How Bay Area ICU capacity compares to the most impacted areas in California, nation

San Francisco Chronicle, by Kellie Hwang, Dec. 11, 2020 
Nurse Waymond Jones (left) Respiratory Therapist Laura Sandoval (center) and nurse Larry Ngiraswei (right) prepare to prone a COVID-19 patient in the ICU at Regional Medical Center of San Jose, an acute-care hospital, on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020 in San Jose, California. Following Thanksgiving there has been an uptick in COVID-19 cases all over California and the Bay Area. Photo: Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle

Hospitals in the Bay Area, California and across the nation are running short of intensive care unit beds as the latest coronavirus surge sets new records for cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

On Thursday, California reported a record 2,710 ICU hospitalizations, and four of five state regions, including part of the Bay Area, were under the regional stay-at-home order issued last week by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The order is triggered when available ICU hospital capacity dips below 15%.

The five regions, based on California’s mutual aid system and emergency response networks, are the Bay Area, Southern California, the San Joaquin Valley, Greater Sacramento and Northern California.

The Southern California region, with 7.7% ICU availability as of Thursday, and the San Joaquin Valley, with just 1.9% availability, fell under the stay-at-home order last weekend. Restrictions went into effect overnight Thursday for the Greater Sacramento area, with 13.3% availability.

The Bay Area region was at 17.8% available ICU capacity Thursday, though five of its 11 counties — San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara and Marin — have voluntarily tightened restrictions in line with the state order. Sonoma County announced Thursday it will join them this weekend. Northern California had the highest ICU availability in the state, at 30.3%.

Critical shortages are occurring across the nation. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services began releasing COVID-19 hospital capacity data at the facility level, aggregating daily hospital reports and sharing them on a weekly basis. The New York Times has created an interactive map detailing the ICU capacity throughout the U.S.  [BenIndy editor: The NYTimes map shows Fairfield (22 of 30 ICU beds occupied, 75% on Dec. 9) as well as Vallejo (20 of 24, 81%) and Vacaville (10 of 11, 91%).  It’s a little hard to navigate the map, but worth it for the numbers.  – R.S.] 

Here are the ICU occupancy rates for both the most-impacted and the largest high-population locations in the Bay Area, compared with California and the U.S., according to the data released Monday. The figures are based on seven-day average patient count by hospital service area.

Daly City: 100% of ICU beds occupied

Santa Rosa: 95% of ICU beds occupied

 Vacaville: 91% of ICU beds occupied 

South San Francisco: 90% of ICU beds occupied

San Leandro: 90% of ICU beds occupied

Petaluma: 88% of ICU beds occupied

Martinez: 83% of ICU beds occupied

Fremont: 83% of ICU beds occupied

 Vallejo: 81% of ICU beds occupied 

Castro Valley: 80% of ICU beds occupied

Sonoma County

In Santa Rosa, the largest city in Sonoma County, ICUs are 95% full. Sonoma County did not initially join the five Bay Area counties in adopting the stay-at-home measure, but officials announced Thursday that the county would adopt it starting Saturday at 12:01 a.m.

“Although Sonoma County has fared better until now than other parts of the state in terms of demand on our hospitals, we have been seeing an alarming increase in cases and hospitalizations in recent days, and this is putting increased strain on our medical resources,” county health officer Dr. Sundari Mase said in a news release. “We feel we have no choice but to join the other Bay Area counties in preemptively adopting the governor’s Stay-Home order.”

Mase noted that hospitalizations in Sonoma are near the county’s highest ever, and that coronavirus case rates are at their highest since the pandemic began. “We also are seeing a wider geographic spread of infection,” Mase said. She tied the increases to the surge in cases across the nation as well as large gatherings in the county, including over Halloween and Thanksgiving.

At a community briefing on Wednesday, the most recent ICU available capacity was reported at 11.6% in Sonoma County. ICU beds occupied in Sonoma are at 57%, Healdsburg is at 20% and Petaluma stands at 88%. The county removed hospital capacity data from its website, and the Press Democrat reported that officials are working with the state to fix discrepancies between the county and state websites.

MOST IMPACTED CALIFORNIA

Daly City: 100% of ICU beds occupied

Huntington Beach (Orange County): 100% of ICU beds occupied

Ventura: 99% of ICU beds occupied

Upland (San Bernardino County): 97% of ICU beds occupied

Chula Vista (San Diego County): 97% of ICU beds occupied

Oxnard (Ventura County): 96% of ICU beds occupied

Victorville (San Bernardino County): 95% of ICU beds occupied

Thousand Oaks (Ventura County): 95% of ICU beds occupied

Santa Rosa: 95% of ICU beds occupied

Fresno: 95% of ICU beds occupied

Lynwood (Los Angeles County): 95% of ICU beds occupied

Northridge (Los Angeles County): 95% of ICU beds occupied

Arcadia (Los Angeles County): 94% of ICU beds occupied

Redlands (San Bernardino County): 94% of ICU beds occupied

Fontana (San Bernardino County): 93% of ICU beds occupied

Redding: 91% of ICU beds occupied

Huntington Beach

In California, all of Huntington Beach’s 11 ICU beds are occupied. The Orange County city of fewer than 200,000 has made headlines as a gathering place for locals to demonstrate their resistance to mask orders and other pandemic restriction-enforcement measures.

Ventura County

In Ventura County, the cities of Ventura, Oxnard, Thousand Oaks and Camarillo are all at more than 95% ICU capacity. The county is grouped in the Southern California region, which is under the regional stay-at-home order. County supervisors have unanimously voted to propose a new region that would include Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, which have much higher available ICU capacity and therefore likely could remove restrictions on businesses sooner.

MOST IMPACTED U.S.

Albuquerque, N.M.: 116% of ICU beds occupied

Baton Rouge, La.: 109% of ICU beds occupied

Ogden, Utah: 107% of ICU beds occupied

Upland, Pa.: 106% of ICU beds occupied

Easton, Pa.: 104% of ICU beds occupied

Abington, Pa.: 102% of ICU beds occupied)

Pompano Beach, Fla.: 100% of ICU beds occupied

Port St. Lucie, Fla.: 100% of ICU beds occupied

Dothan, Ala.: 100% of ICU beds occupied

Douglasville, Ga.: 100% of ICU beds occupied

Wailuku, Hawaii: 100% of ICU beds occupied

Chicago Heights, Ill.: 100% of ICU beds occupied

Leonardtown, Md.: 100% of ICU beds occupied

St. Joseph, Mo.: 100% of ICU beds occupied

St. Cloud, Minn.: 100% of ICU beds occupied

Albuquerque

The hospital service area that includes Albuquerque shows the highest ICU occupancy in the nation at 116%. In mid-November, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham tightened restrictions statewide in hopes of reducing the virus spread, but that wasn’t enough. On Nov. 20, a backup hospital in Albuquerque was opened to relieve the strain. Now hospitals are reaching surge capacity at nearly 1,000 hospitalizations daily. Officials are preparing to ration care to coronavirus patients, with the only criterion being whether a person is likely to survive.

TOP LARGEST LOCATIONS IN THE BAY AREA GROUP

San Francisco: 72% of ICU beds occupied

Oakland: 62% of ICU beds occupied

Santa Rosa: 95% of ICU beds occupied

San Jose: 68% of ICU beds occupied

Greenbrae: 59% of ICU beds occupied

Napa: 45% of ICU beds occupied

Vallejo: 81% of ICU beds occupied

Daly City: 100% of ICU beds occupied

Concord: 78% of ICU beds occupied

Salinas: 61% of ICU beds occupied

Santa Cruz: 76% of ICU beds occupied

TOP LARGEST CALIFORNIA CITIES

Los Angeles: 80% of ICU beds occupied

San Diego: 65% of ICU beds occupied

San Jose: 68% of ICU beds occupied

San Francisco: 72% of ICU beds occupied

Fresno: 95% of ICU beds occupied

Sacramento: 83% of ICU beds occupied

Long Beach: 51% of ICU beds occupied

Oakland: 62% of ICU beds occupied

Bakersfield: 75% of ICU beds occupied

Anaheim: 87% of ICU beds occupied

Santa Ana: 37% of ICU beds occupied

Riverside: 88% of ICU beds occupied

Stockton: 90% of ICU beds occupied

Irvine: No ICU data reported from local hospitals

Chula Vista: 97% of ICU beds occupied

Chula VIsta

Chula Vista, in San Diego County, has the highest percentage of ICU beds occupied at 97%. San Diego County’s hospitals have seen a crush of coronavirus admissions since late November, and some facilities have reported that they are already utilizing surge beds, concerned about an increase of cases due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

TOP LARGEST U.S. CITIES

New York City: 78% of ICU beds occupied

Los Angeles: 80% of ICU beds occupied

Chicago: 65% of ICU beds occupied

Houston: 91% of ICU beds occupied

Phoenix: 64% of ICU beds occupied

Philadelphia: 84% of ICU beds occupied

San Antonio: 91% of ICU beds occupied

San Diego: 65% of ICU beds occupied

Dallas: 93% of ICU beds occupied

San Jose: 68% of ICU beds occupied

Austin, Texas: 85% of ICU beds occupied

Jacksonville, Fla.: 79% of ICU beds occupied

Fort Worth, Texas: 92% of ICU beds occupied

Columbus, Ohio: 83% of ICU beds occupied

Charlotte, N.C.: 81% of ICU beds occupied

Texas

Dallas has the lowest ICU capacity on this list, with just 7% of ICU beds available. Dallas County recently reported the second-highest daily death toll in the pandemic, and the county had to lower business capacity from 75% to 50% on Dec. 3 after going over the 15% ICU capacity threshold.

Fort Worth, in Texas’ Tarrant County, follows closely behind with 92% of ICU beds occupied. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s office is near storage capacity for bodies, so two refrigerated trucks have been brought in and are expected to be used soon.

Final certified election results: Benicia, Vallejo, Fairfield, Suisun City, Vacaville, Rio Vista, Dixon, Solano County

By Roger Straw, November 25, 2020

Solano County has completed it’s count and certified election results.  The Registrar of Voters office posted the final count at 4pm on Tuesday, November 24.

The County provides excellent reports on its website.  Most interesting in my opinion is the report titled  Certified Election Results Site (Downloadable format).  This is actually an html web page, but if you click on Reports at top right, you will be able to download Excel or PDF files for:

The page is also searchable.  For instance, in your browser just search on “benicia” and you will find results for local races and Benicia’s Measure D.

Solano County Election Results
Last Updated: November 24, 2020 – 4:00PM
Results below are certified, no additional changes can be made.

Total Ballots Issued:
Vote By Mail & In person for Registered voters – 258,850

Ballots Processed & Counted
Vote by Mail – 178,5112
In person – 30,490

 

State agents issue misdemeanor citations to Benicia, Vacaville, Vallejo businesses for coronavirus violations

Coronavirus: State cites several Solano eateries for violating state guidelines

Vallejo Times-Herald, by Kim Fu, July 25, 2020

Agents with the state’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control conducted compliance sweeps throughout Northern California earlier this month and found several eateries, including in Solano County, in violation of coronavirus guidelines.

John Carr, an ABC spokesman, said agents issued misdemeanor citations for violating state emergency health orders. A district attorney, he said, will determine whether to prosecute.

Meanwhile, ABC has not taken any action against licenses where the violations occurred, Carr said, as the violations remain under review. Should disciplinary action be pursued, business owners may request a hearing before an administrative law judge. Penalties can range from a fine to a suspension to a revocation.

Businesses cited between July 3-5 include:

  • Muay Thai Cuisine, Vacaville, for indoor consumption and employees not wearing masks.
  • Kazan Japanese Cuisine, Vacaville, for indoor consumption and employees not wearing masks.
  • El Patron Mexican Food, Vacaville, for employees not wearing masks.
  • Back Door Bistro, Vacaville, for employees not wearing masks.
  • Koreana BBQ, Fairfield, for indoor consumption.
  • Cullens Tannery Pub,  Benicia , for indoor consumption and employees not wearing masks.

Businesses cited between July 6-16 include:

  • Gentlemen Jims, Vallejo, for indoor consumption and employees not wearing masks.
  • The Loft,  Benicia , for employees not social distancing.

All Solano cities included in most severe COVID19 shutdown orders: Benicia, Vallejo, Fairfield, Vacaville, Suisun, Rio Vista, Dixon

State of California – COVID19.CA.gov, July 13, 2020

County data monitoring

California is monitoring COVID-19 closely in each local community and keeping the public informed. We’re teaming up with counties to fight it with every tool we have: current local data, testing, contact tracing, infection control, emergency supplies, containment measures, and more.

Counties should be ready to restore limitations if outbreaks increase. The State Public Health Officer may take action if needed.

Effective July 13, 2020,  ALL counties  must close indoor operations in these sectors:
    • Dine-in restaurants
    • Wineries and tasting rooms
    • Movie theaters
    • Family entertainment centers (for example: bowling alleys, miniature golf, batting cages and arcades)
    • Zoos and museums
    • Cardrooms

Additionally, bars, brewpubs, breweries, and pubs must close all operations both indoor and outdoor statewide, unless they are offering sit-down, outdoor dine-in meals. Alcohol can only be sold in the same transaction as a meal.

 Counties that have remained on the County Monitoring List  for 3 consecutive days will be required to shut down the following industries or activities unless they can be modified to operate outside or by pick-up.
    • Fitness centers
    • Worship services
    • Protests
    • Offices for non-essential sectors
    • Personal care services, like nail salons, body waxing and tattoo parlors
    • Hair salons and barbershops
    • Malls
The following counties have remained on the County Monitoring List for 3 consecutive days:
Affected counties as of 7/13/20
  • Colusa
  • Contra Costa
  • Fresno
  • Glenn
  • Imperial
  • Kings
  • Los Angeles
  • Madera
  • Marin
  • Merced
  • Monterey
  • Napa
  • Orange
  • Placer
  • Riverside
  • Sacramento
  • San Benito
  • San Bernardino
  • San Diego
  • San Joaquin
  • Santa Barbara
  •  Solano 
  • Sonoma
  • Stanislaus
  • Sutter
  • Tulare
  • Yolo
  • Yuba
  • Ventura

The State Public Health Officer may take additional action if needed.

Track county data and monitoring status


What is allowed to open in my county?

Use the map above to see which category your county falls into. See guidance for each of the mentioned industries.

For counties on Monitoring List for 3 consecutive days  [includes Solano] 

The following industries must close indoor operations, but they may be modified to operate outside or by pick-up:

  • Dine-in restaurants
  • Wineries and tasting rooms
  • Movie theaters
  • Family entertainment centers (for example: bowling alleys, miniature golf, batting cages and arcades)
  • Zoos and museums
  • Cardrooms
  • Hair salons and barbershops
  • Gyms and fitness centers
  • Personal care services, like nail salons, body waxing and tattoo parlors
  • Places of worship
  • Offices for non-essential sectors
  • Malls

NOTE: Imperial County is open to the essential workforce only (Stage One). Alameda and Santa Clara County do not have an attestation and can only open industries open statewide.