Monthly Archives: December 2020

Anti-racism, Benicia Black Lives Matter, Progressive Democrats of Benicia, Racial justice, SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice)

INVITATION: Six-week study and action series on racial justice in Benicia

From Progressive Democrats of Benicia, December 2, 2020

Members and friends of PDB:

In Chief Erik Upson’s recent City of Benicia News update as Interim City Manager, he announced that the Benicia Library is partnering with Benicia Black Lives Matter and the Bay Area Chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) for a six-week series of classes on racial justice. This course is free to the public but classes are limited to 30 members for each of the two sessions available – one to be held on Tuesdays beginning Jan. 12, and a second session on Saturdays beginning Jan. 16. (See REGISTRATION, below.)

ABOUT SURJ AND THE STUDY/ACTION SERIES:

SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) Bay Area is part of a national network of groups and individuals organizing white people for racial justice. Through community organizing, mobilizing, and education, SURJ moves white people to act as part of a multi-racial majority for justice, with passion and accountability.

SURJ Study & Action is a community of learners committed to examining the histories of white supremacy and resistance movements and building our abilities to effectively take action in support of Black and Brown-led organizations fighting for racial justice.

…We are responding to Black peoples’ long-standing call for white people, in large numbers, to talk, study and take action with each other so we can confront white supremacy in our workplaces, schools, with our families and throughout our lives.

Learning in community makes our movements strong. We train up, so we can show up!

FROM RALPH DENNIS, PDB CHAIR: I strongly recommend that white PDB members and friends look in a mirror and consider the benefits that attending these classes will provide. No matter how much we who are white think we are “aware of” and fight against racial prejudices and discrimination, and/or that “I’m not racist,” none of us can know how it feels to be black in a white-dominated culture. And, all of us need to acknowledge the history and systemic nature of racism in our country, and here in Benicia, and learn how to address it and become anti-racist in actions and deeds. These classes are a path towards beginning that journey in Benicia.

Here’s more information from Chief Upson and how to register for the classes.

Showing Up for Racial Justice – Study & Action Course

(From City of Benicia this week, Message from the Interim City Manager 11/30/20)

The Benicia Public Library and Benicia Black Lives Matter are teaming up to offer a free series of classes for the community, cosponsored by the Bay Area chapter of Stand Up for Racial Justice (SURJ).

Participants are asked to:

  • commit to attending all 6 sessions of this intensive program in order to hold accountability to the group, build community, and get the most out of the series;
  • allow enough time in your schedules to read the weekly assignments, about 2.5-4 hours per week;
  • commit to participating in at least 3 racial justice actions during the course of the Intensive. Facilitators will suggest actions to be a part of at each weekly meeting.

Two six session courses are available, one series held on Tuesdays beginning January 12 (registration deadline Dec. 29), the other held on Saturdays beginning January 16 (registration deadline Jan. 2). Please choose either Tuesdays or Saturdays. There are 30 spaces available in each series. All meetings are held on Zoom.

REGISTRATION

For Tuesday Classes: Register Online

For Saturday Classes: Register Online

Questions? Please contact Nancy.

More information is available at https://benicialibrary.org/standing-up-racial-justice.

California, Coronavirus, Covid 19

NY Times: California is experiencing the largest surge since the beginning of the pandemic

California reeling

Perhaps no state has faced more ups and downs during the pandemic than California.
New Cases in California, The New York Times
New York Times Coronavirus Briefing, December 1, 2020

In the spring, California had some of the earliest outbreaks and was the first state to issue a stay-at-home order. By summer, many Californians thought the worst was behind them, only to see an explosion of cases at the end of June. The number of infections dropped, then plateaued, before skyrocketing again this fall.

Now California is experiencing the largest surge since the beginning of the pandemic with an average of nearly 15,000 new cases a day.

Despite already having some of the most restrictive virus measures in the country, Gov. Gavin Newsom said yesterday that the state might have to take “drastic action” to slow the spread of the virus, including full stay-at-home orders, which could come within the next couple of days.

Already, 99 percent of residents are living under an overnight curfew that bars them from leaving their homes for nonessential trips after 10 p.m. Los Angeles recently went further and banned gatherings with other households, while a ban on contact sports in Santa Clara County has forced the San Francisco 49ers to play home games in Arizona.

Still, the numbers continue to soar. Governor Newsom warned that with so many sick patients, intensive care units could be overloaded by the middle of December, and its hospitals could be dangerously close to full by Christmas. The state is also facing a shortage of nurses.

As my colleagues Thomas Fuller and Manny Fernandez report, despite its size and economic power, California has one of the nation’s lowest number of hospital beds relative to its population, with just 1.8 hospital beds per 1,000 people. California has one-third the number of beds per capita of, for example, Poland, and only two states have fewer beds for residents, Washington and Oregon.
With the pandemic raging across the country, California may not be able to rely on other states for its disaster planning, as it did when thousands of firefighters traveled to put out its mega-fires.

“You have to think of this as a natural disaster, like an earthquake — there’s a lot of need for hospitalization,” said George Rutherford, a professor of epidemiology at the University of California, San Francisco. “But the difference here is that it’s happening across the country. We can’t send people to Reno, Phoenix or Tucson. We’re stuck.”

Coronavirus, Covid 19, COVID19.CA.GOV, Keeping Watch on Earth News, Solano County CA

Solano COVID update on December 1 – 83 new cases overnight, test rate 11.9%

[Source: Solano County Coronavirus Dashboard.  For a complete archive of day by day data, see my Excel ARCHIVE.  ALSO see important daily updates from another source, COVID19.CA.GOV: here on the BenIndy at Cases and Deaths, etc. AND Hospitalizations.]

Tuesday, December 1: 83 new cases overnight, no deaths.  Since the outbreak began: 10,731 cases, 603 hospitalized, 81 deaths.Compare previous report, Monday, Nov. 30:Summary

  • Solano County reported 83 new cases overnight.  As of today, Solano has seen an average of 112 new cases per day over the last 14 days!  Total of 10,731 cases since the outbreak started.
  • Deaths – no new deaths reported today, a total of 81 Solano deaths since the pandemic began.
  • Active cases – Solano reported 52 fewer active cases today, total of 808 active cases.  Despite recent lower numbers, active cases have increased alarmingly lately – COMPARE: average number of Active Cases during October was 284 – today we are at 808!!  Is the County equipped to contact trace so many infected persons?  Who knows?  To my knowledge, Solano has offered no reports on contact tracing.
  • Hospitalizations – (See BenIndy page, COVID-19 Hospitalizations Daily Update for Solano County for State of California data.)  Solano County’s daily update reported 68 currently hospitalized, and indicated that the TOTAL hospitalized since the outbreak began remained steady today, total of 603. [For my manual calculation of total, see age group stats below.]
  • ICU Beds – (See BenIndy page, COVID-19 Hospitalizations Daily Update for Solano County for State of California data.)  The County reported no change in ICU beds available today, remaining at 33%.
  • Testing – The County reports today that 721 residents were tested since yesterday, a total of 127,865 unduplicated residents tested for COVID-19 since the outbreak began.  28.6% of Solano County’s 447,643 residents (2019) have been tested.

Positive Test Rate – still extremely high, 11.9%

Solano County reported our 7-day average positive test rate fell today from yesterday’s 12.3% to 11.9% – still far and away over the State’s purple tier threshold of 8%.  Average percent positive test rates are among the best metrics for measuring community spread of the virus.  The much lower and more stable California 7-day average test rate has also been on the rise lately, and rose substantially today from 6.5% to 7.0%.  (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 therefore also lags behind due to unknown recent test results.) 

By Age Group
  • Youth 17 and under – 9 new cases today, total of 1,231 cases, representing 11.5% of the 10,731 total cases.  No new hospitalizations reported today among this age group.  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 at least 14 of our youth have been hospitalized since the outbreak began.
  • Persons 18-49 years of age – 49 new cases today, total of 6,257 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.  The County reported no new hospitalizations among persons in this age group today.  A total of 194 have been hospitalized since the outbreak began.  No new deaths in this young group today, total of 6 deaths.  Some in this group are surely at high risk, as many are providing essential services among us, and some may be ignoring public health orders.  I expect this group is a major factor in the spread of the virus.
  • Persons 50-64 years of age – 19 new cases today, total of 2,097 cases.  This age group represents over 19% of the 10,731 total cases.  The County reported no new hospitalizations among persons in this age group today.  A total of 162 have been hospitalized since the outbreak began.  No new deaths in this age group today, a total of 15 deaths.
  • Persons 65 years or older – 6 new cases today, total of 1,140, representing 10.6% of Solano’s 10,731 total cases.  The County reported no new hospitalizations among persons in this age group today.  A total of 233 have been hospitalized since the outbreak began.  No new deaths in this age group today, total of 60 of our elders who died of COVID, accounting for 74% of Solano’s 81 total deaths.
City Data
  • Benicia added 1 new case today, total of 287 cases since the outbreak began. 
  • Dixon added 7 new cases today, total of 745 cases.
  • Fairfield added 18 new cases today, total of 3,243 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 2 new cases today, total of 93 cases.
  • Suisun City added 4 new cases today, total of 743 cases.
  • Vacaville added 21new cases today, total of 2,206 cases.
  • Vallejo added 30 new cases today, total of 3,374 cases.
  • Unincorporated areas remained steady today, total of 40 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, 12% of hospitalizations, and 19% of deaths.
  • Black Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 12% of cases, but 16% of hospitalizations, and 23% of deaths.
  • Latinx Americans are 26% of Solano’s population, but account for 23% of cases, 26% of hospitalizations, and 18% of deaths.
  • White Americans are 39% of the population in Solano County, but only account for 26% of cases, 28% of hospitalizations and 33% of deaths.
More…

The County’s Coronavirus Dashboard is USUALLY 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.

Benicia City Council, Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson

TONIGHT! Benicia City Council to honor our friend, Mayor Elizabeth Patterson

Benicia council to say goodbye to outgoing mayor

by John Glidden | Nov. 30, 2020

BENICIA – Outgoing Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson will be honored on Tuesday by elected officials after nearly 20 years of public service on the City Council.

Patterson, who was first elected to the City Council in 2003, began her run as mayor when she was elected to the position in 2007. She went on to be re-elected twice before deciding earlier this year not to seek a fourth term as mayor.

She told the Fairfield Daily Republic in July that she will be focusing her energies on fighting climate change.

Patterson will be presented with a resolution honoring her service to Benicia.

The resolution, in part, states that she “worked tirelessly to protect and promote Benicia’s interests on a wide range of issues, from public safety to fiscal responsibility, and that of the larger community, by promoting sustainability and climate awareness.”

It also praises Patterson’s “advocacy for environmental sustainability dovetailed with her passion for planning, which led to a leadership role in forming the Community Sustainability Commission.”

The Benicia City Council will hold two meetings Tuesday night.

At 6 p.m., the council will meet in closed session to discuss once case of potential litigation. Then at 7 p.m., in open session, the council is expected to certify the election results of the council and mayor contests and also honor Patterson.

Councilman Steve Young won election to the mayor’s seat, defeating Vice Mayor Christina Strawbridge for the position. Councilman Tom Campbell won re-election to the five-person council with Planning Commissioner Trevor Macenski narrowly edging out Benicia Arts and Culture Commission member Terry Scott by less than 130 votes for Young’s council seat.

During the second meeting at 7:30 p.m., Young, Campbell, and Macenski will be sworn in for their new terms. They will join Strawbridge, and fellow Councilman Lionel Largaespada.

Those wishing to submit a comment for the either meeting can do so by emailing the comments to Benicia City Clerk Lisa Wolfe at lwolfe@ci.benicia.ca.us.

The general public can view the public three ways: Cable T.V. Broadcast on Channel 27; livestream online at http://www.ci.benicia.ca.us/agendas, or by Zoom meeting.

The Zoom link is
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83511032155?pwd=b3Z6S3UxcnhmaUhxWlRUc2ttSkpRQT09
• If prompted for a password, enter 454382.
• Use participant option to “raise hand” during the public comment period for the item you wish to speak on. Please note, your electronic device must have microphone capability.

Or the public can dial in with phone:
Before the start of the item you wish to comment on, call any of the numbers below. If one is busy, try
the next one.
1 669 900 9128
1 346 248 7799
1 253 215 8782
1 646 558 8656
1 301 715 8592
1 312 626 6799
• Enter the meeting ID number: 835 1103 2155 please note this is an updated ID number.
• Enter password: 454382
• When prompted for a Participant ID, press #.
• Press *9 on your phone to “raise your hand” when the Mayor calls for public comment during the item you wish to speak on. Once unmuted, you will have up to 5 minutes to speak.