Monthly Archives: October 2020

Coronavirus, Covid 19, Solano County CA

COVID-19 still spreading in Solano County – reporting 45 new cases overnight, 6 hospitalizations

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

Friday, October 2: 45 new cases overnight,
6 hospitalizations, no new deaths.  Since the outbreak began: 6,520 cases, 401 hospitalized, 71 deaths.Compare previous report, Thursday, October 1:Summary

  • Solano County reported 45 new cases today, total of 6,520 cases since the outbreak started.  Over the last 2 weeks, Solano reported 435 new cases, average of over 31 per day.
  • Deaths – Thankfully, no new reports of COVID deaths today.  RECENT SPIKE: 16 deaths reported in the last 10 days, total of 71 Solano deaths.
    Deaths reported Sept 22 – Oct 2:
    – 1 very young person 18-49 years;
    – 2 middle agers 50-64 years;
    – 13 of our elders aged 65+
    For details on last Tuesday’s report of 4 deaths, 3 of which were in Solano care facilities, see the Daily Republic report: Recent Covid-related deaths at Fairfield, Vallejo care centers climb to 9
  • Active cases – Solano reported 10 fewer ACTIVE cases today, total of 237.  Note that only 18 of these 237 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?  To my knowledge, Solano County has offered no reports on contact tracing.
  • Hospitalizations – the number of currently hospitalized persons decreased by 1 today, total of 18.  However, the total number hospitalized since the outbreak started increased by 6 today, total of 401.  (See age group hospitalization stats below).
  • ICU Beds –The County reported a sharp increase in the percentage of ICU beds available today, up from 39% yesterday to 49% today.  (After 8 weeks, still no information about availability of ventilators.)
  • Testing – The County reports today that 498 residents were tested overnight, new total of 90,263.  (Solano has AVERAGED over 500 tested per day during the last 3 weeks.)  Still, Solano has a long way to go; only 20.2% 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 by nearly 1% today from 4.3% to 5.2%.
For the record, Solano’s test rate crested the week of July 15-22, when it peaked at 9.3%.  The County has hit 7% (or more) three times since, on August 21, September 1 and September 2.  In the 4 weeks since then, our test rate has run as high as 6.5% and as low as 2.7% (on Sept 11), averaging 4.2%.
The County’s line graph for positive test rate looks like a flat line and tells us little or nothing, not worth posting here.
Percent positive test rates are among the best metrics for measuring the spread of the virus.  The much more stable California
7-day test rate remained steady today, at 2.8%.  (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 – 5 new cases today, total of 732 cases, representing 11.2% of the 6,520 total cases.  No new hospitalizations among this age group today, a total of 6 hospitalizations since the outbreak began.  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 remained around 11% since then.  Youth are 22% of Solano’s general population, so this 11% may seem low.  The significance is this: 1) youth numbers increased steadily and at a faster rate than the other age groups, and 2) youth are SERIOUSLY NOT IMMUNE (!) – in fact 6 youth have now been hospitalized.
  • Persons 18-49 years of age – 23 new cases today, total of 3,894 cases. This age group is 41% of the population in Solano, but represents nearly 60% of the total cases, by far the highest percentage of all age groups.  The County reported 1 new hospitalization in this age group today, total of 130 hospitalized since the outbreak began.  No new deaths in this young age group today, total of 5 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 – 9 new cases today, total of 1,242 cases.  This age group represents 19% of the 6,520 total cases.
    3 new hospitalizations today, total of 108 hospitalized since the outbreak began.  No new deaths in this age group today, a total of 13 deaths.
  • Persons 65 years or older – Today the County reported 8 new cases, total of 651.  2 new hospitalizations, total of 157.  No new deaths, total of 53 of our elders who died of COVID.  Much of the recent spike in this age group is related to outbreaks at Fairfield and Vallejo care facilities.  (For details on Tuesday’s report of 4 deaths, 3 of which were in Solano care facilities, see the Daily Republic report: Recent Covid-related deaths at Fairfield, Vallejo care centers climb to 9.)  This age group’s 643 cases represent 9.9% of the 6,520 total cases.  In this older age group, 24% of cases required hospitalization at one time.  This group accounts for 53 of the 71 deaths, or 75%.

City Data

  • Benicia remained steady today, total of 174 cases since the outbreak began.
  • Dixon remained steady today, total of 420 cases.
  • Fairfield added 16 new cases today, total of 2,113 cases.
  • Rio Vista remained steady today, total of 52 cases.
  • Suisun City added 6 new cases today, total of 482 cases.
  • Vacaville added 8 new cases today, total of 1,096 cases.
  • Vallejo added 14 new cases today, total of 2,161 cases.
  • Unincorporated areas added 1 new case today, total of 22 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 Latinex members of our communities.

  • Asian Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 9% of cases, 11% of hospitalizations, and 18% of deaths.
  • Black Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 11% of cases, but 18% of hospitalizations, and 24% of deaths.
  • Latinx Americans are 26% of Solano’s population, but account for 30% of cases, 29% of hospitalizations, and 18% of deaths.
  • White Americans are 39% of the population in Solano County, but only account for 22% of cases, 27% of hospitalizations and as of today 31% of deaths.  NOTE: A week ago, the percentage of deaths of White Americans began to rise sharply. After hovering at 20-21% for months, White American deaths rose to 31% in recent days.  It seems likely this increase corresponds to the recent spike of cases and deaths in Solano care facilities.

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.

2020 elections, Benicia City Council, Benicia elections, Benicia Mayor, Valero Benicia Refinery, Valero PAC

Valero PAC spending heavily in Benicia Mayor race – details

As of Sept. 24, Valero and friends had spent nearly $30,000 against Steve Young, owing another $30,000 in unpaid bills

A Sept. 29 report suggests Valero has spent nearly $70,000
By Roger Straw, October 2, 2020

After reviewing campaign finance documents on the City of Benicia website today, it is apparent that Valero is going to do everything it can once again to buy its way onto Benicia’s City Council.

This time around, they are smarter than they were in 2018, when the NAME of their political action committee was a mile long, naming two candidates they favored and coming right out and naming a single candidate they opposed.  This year, they claim only that they FAVOR one candidate for Mayor.  They kept the ludicrous “Working Families” moniker – as if we’re not ALL working families.  But this time  around, they’ve avoided reference to their real objective: to disparage and malign Steve Young so that he doesn’t become Mayor and hold Valero’s feet to the fire as he has in the past.

The details of Valero’s spending as of September 29 are combined in a single Excel spreadsheet here.  The spreadsheet contains 2 tabs:

    • “VALERO PAC Form460 CpgnDisclosr” is a record of Valero’s 3 SUMMARY reports, showing 2020 income, expenses and cash balance.
    • “Forms 465 & 496 IndExp” is a more interesting 2nd tab, showing in detail Valero’s individual expenditures so far, including…
      • Live Calls & Data: $27,000
      • Voter Data & Call Lists: $1,031
      • Call Center: $21,468
      • Digital Ads: $10,000
      • and Mailers: $9,844

Direct links to Valero’s documents as they appear on the City of Benicia website follow at the end of this article.

Sample Photocopies?

I recall that when Valero reported in 2018, they were required to included photocopies of the dirty and misleading ads they distributed (right).  I believe Benicia’s campaign finance ordinances required this.  Those ordinances have been strengthened since 2018, but no such photo samples have been included in Valero’s reporting as yet.  Residents have been seeing Valero’s negative ads on social media this week.  (Out of respect, I will not reprint them here.)

Valero Financial Disclosures – combined in one document

Again – our spreadsheet is viewable on Google Docs at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IYHmTbaw8IIyIPbB97FdjyiFmvU-3vvY/view?usp=sharing

Valero PAC Financial Disclosures – City of Benicia website
Coronavirus, Covid 19, Solano County CA

COVID in Solano County on October 1: reporting 30 new cases, no deaths

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

Thursday, October 1: 30 new cases overnight,
no new hospitalizations, no new deaths.  Since the outbreak began: 6,475 cases, 395 hospitalized, 71 deaths.Compare previous report, Wednesday, Sept 30:Summary

  • Solano County reported 30 new cases today, total of 6,475 cases since the outbreak started.  Over the last 2 weeks, Solano reported 421 new cases, average of over 30 per day.
  • Deaths – Thankfully, no new reports of COVID deaths today.  RECENT SPIKE: 16 deaths reported in the last 9 days, total of 71 Solano deaths.
    Deaths reported Sept 22 – Oct 1:
    – 1 very young person 18-49 years;
    – 2 middle agers 50-64 years;
    – 13 of our elders aged 65+
    For details on Tuesday’s report of 4 deaths, 3 of which were in Solano care facilities, see the Daily Republic report: Recent Covid-related deaths at Fairfield, Vallejo care centers climb to 9
  • Active cases – Solano reported 22 more ACTIVE cases today, total of 247.  Note that only 19 of these 247 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?  To my knowledge, Solano County has offered no reports on contact tracing.
  • Hospitalizations – the number of currently hospitalized persons increased by 5 today, total of 19.  The total number hospitalized since the outbreak started remained even today, total of 395.  (Seriously, I’m not sure how this can be – 5 more currently hospitalized, yet no increase in hospitalizations among any age group….  Again, Solano must be adjusting previous reporting without explanation.) (See age group hospitalization stats below).
  • ICU Beds –The County reported another reduction in the percentage of ICU beds available, down from 40% yesterday to 39% today.  This after hovering at or above 50% over the past week. (After 8 weeks, still no information about availability of ventilators.)
  • Testing – The County reports today that only 40 (!) residents were tested overnight, new total of 89,765.  Is this an error?  Or is something going on?  (Solano has AVERAGED over 500 tested per day during the last 3 weeks.)  Whatever, Solano has a long way to go; only 20% 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 fell a bit today from 4.7% to 4.3%.
For the record, Solano’s test rate crested the week of July 15-22, when it peaked at 9.3%.  The County has hit 7% (or more) three times since, on August 21, September 1 and September 2.  In the 4 weeks since then, our test rate has run as high as 6.5% and as low as 2.7% (on Sept 11), averaging 4.2%.
The County’s line graph for positive test rate looks like a flat line and tells us little or nothing, not worth posting here.
Percent positive test rates are among the best metrics for measuring the spread of the virus.  The much more stable California
7-day test rate remained steady today, at 2.8%.  (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 – 6 new cases today, total of 727 cases, representing 11.2% of the 6,475 total cases.  No new hospitalizations among this age group today, a total of 6 hospitalizations since the outbreak began.  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 remained around 11% since then.  Youth are 22% of Solano’s general population, so this 11% may seem low.  The significance is this: 1) youth numbers increased steadily and at a faster rate than the other age groups, and 2) youth are SERIOUSLY NOT IMMUNE (!) – in fact 6 youth have now been hospitalized.
  • Persons 18-49 years of age – 11 new cases today, total of 3,871 cases. This age group is 41% of the population in Solano, but represents 60% of the total cases, by far the highest percentage of all age groups.  The County reported no new hospitalizations in this age group today, total of 129 hospitalized since the outbreak began.  No new deaths in this young age group today, total of 5 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 – 7 new cases today, total of 1,233 cases.  This age group represents 19% of the 6,475 total cases.
    No new hospitalizations today, total of 105 hospitalized since the outbreak began.  No new deaths in this age group today, a total of 13 deaths.
  • Persons 65 years or older – Today the County reported 6 new cases, total of 643.  No new hospitalizations, total of 155.  And no new deaths, total of 53 of our elders who died of COVID.  Much of the recent spike in this age group is related to outbreaks at Fairfield and Vallejo care facilities.  (For details on Tuesday’s report of 4 deaths, 3 of which were in Solano care facilities, see the Daily Republic report: Recent Covid-related deaths at Fairfield, Vallejo care centers climb to 9.)  This age group’s 643 cases represent 9.9% of the 6,475 total cases.  In this older age group, 24% of cases required hospitalization at one time.  This group accounts for 53 of the 71 deaths, or 75%.

City Data

  • Benicia added 2 new cases today, total of 174 cases since the outbreak began.
  • Dixon added 1 new case today, total of 420 cases.
  • Fairfield added 9 new cases today, total of 2,097 cases.
  • Rio Vista remained steady today, total of 52 cases.
  • Suisun City added 5 new cases today, total of 476 cases.
  • Vacaville added 5 new cases today, total of 1,088 cases.
  • Vallejo added 7 new cases today, total of 2,147 cases.
  • Unincorporated areas added 1 more case today, total of 21 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 Latinex members of our communities.

  • Asian Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 9% of cases, 11% of hospitalizations, and 18% of deaths.
  • Black Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 11% of cases, but 18% of hospitalizations, and 24% of deaths.
  • Latinx Americans are 26% of Solano’s population, but account for 30% of cases, 29% of hospitalizations, and 18% of deaths.
  • White Americans are 39% of the population in Solano County, but only account for 21% of cases, 27% of hospitalizations and as of today 31% of deaths.  NOTE: A week ago, the percentage of deaths of White Americans began to rise sharply. After hovering at 20-21% for months, White American deaths rose suddenly to 25% on Thursday Sept. 24.  Then to 26% on Monday Sept. 28, to 28% on Tuesday Sept. 29 and to 31% yesterday and today.  It seems likely this increase corresponds to the recent spike of cases and deaths in Solano care facilities.

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.

2020 elections, Air Quality, Bay Area Refineries, Benicia City Council, Benicia elections, Benicia Mayor, Good Neighbor Steering Committee, Valero Benicia Refinery

Good Neighbor Steering Committee Candidates’ Forum on Air Quality and Refinery Concerns, Benicia, Mon. Oct. 5

Press release, via email…

GNSC Candidates’ Forum, Benicia
Topic: Air Quality and Refinery concerns
Monday, Oct 5th, 2020, 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
See Zoom link below…

We, the members of the Benicia Good Neighbor Steering Committee, cordially invite you to join us for an educational Benicia City Council and Mayoral Candidates’ forum on issues relating to Air Quality and Refinery concerns.

Candidates have been given 9 questions prior to this forum. The candidates will have 3 minutes to respond to each question. The Zoom forum will be recorded and links will be provided to the community for viewing later.

Marilyn Bardet, Mary Frances Kelly Poh, Nancy Lund,
Kathy Kerridge and Constance Beutel
Good Neighbor Steering Committee
(A refinery and community watch dog on community environmental health and safety issues)

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88625849949 ?pwd=Uk5EU09wRll0NlpGTFlRSEUrL2ZzQT09

Meeting ID: 886 2584 9949
Passcode: Local
One tap mobile
+16699006833,,88625849949#,,,,,,0#,,225810# US (San Jose)