Monthly Archives: October 2021

Benicia weather, Keeping Watch on Earth News

Wow! 6pm and 3 inches of rain so far today, more coming through the night

Some Flooding reported in Benicia, power outages in Vallejo

The City of Benicia has a weather page that is updated every five minutes.  At 6pm today, the Benicia Water Treatment Plant chart showed that we have received over 3 inches of rain since midnight this morning. My phone says it will continue raining all evening and through the night.

FLOODING – East E Street in Benicia is flooded and blocked off.  Here is from Art Stine’s Nextdoor conversation about 3:30p.m. earlier today (https://nextdoor.com/news_feed/?post=205494224&comment=675195726)

East E Street Benicia about midway between East 2nd and East 5th St.   There’s severe flooding as I write this and the city has warned and blocked off the street where the flooding exists. However, people insist on coming through and driving rather quickly which causes the water to splash up onto our neighbors across the street at Solano Benicia (where all the mobile homes are at) causing even more flooding. If you read this and you’re coming down this way please just drive through slowly, extremely slowly, or go a different route. that would help a lot thank you.
POWER OUTAGES NEARBY – As of 6:30p.m., PGE reports that Benicia is not experiencing any power outages, but several exist in neighboring Vallejo.
News deserts, Print journalism, Vallejo Times-Herald

Alden Capital bought the Times-Herald, cut staff, moved facilities, weakening coverage of Vallejo, Benicia and American Canyon

National news stories rip owners of Vallejo Times-Herald

By Roger Straw, October 23, 2021

Four national news sources have named the Vallejo Times-Herald in the last two weeks, in stories citing a corporate hedge fund that is gutting newspapers.  (See links below.)

On Thursday, the PBS News Hour published How this ‘vulture’ hedge fund’s gutting of local newsrooms could hurt Americans. Judy Woodruff begins the discussion, “The hedge fund Alden Global Capital has been acquiring scores of U.S. newspapers across the country — then gutting newsrooms and selling off assets. It’s part of a larger trend in the erosion of local news and related jobs in the last decade.”

In three of the four national news stories, former Times-Herald reporter John Glidden is mentioned.

This reporter, John Glidden, told me that he started out as a general assignment reporter, which meant he was kind of covering local crime and community events and whatever came up. Within a few years, he was the only hard-news reporter left in town. He said he had this legal pad that he kept at his desk where he would write down tips that he got from sources. And a lot of them were tips for stories that he knew were important but that he would never get to. He was ultimately fired after criticizing Alden in an interview with The Washington Post. But, you know, when I talked to him, he said it was heartbreaking to see what this once-proud newspaper serving this proud city had been reduced to under Alden’s ownership.

– A Martinez, NPR Business News

Local readers should note that John Glidden has recently joined with Brian Krans and Scott Morris to publish an independent online news publication, The Vallejo Sun.  Another former Times-Herald reporter, Katy St. Clair, also started her own online news medium, katystclair.com.  The Benicia Independent has been in operation since 2007, providing news and views on Benicia, Vallejo, and select issues of concern including climate change and the environment.

Here are links to all four national news stories mentioning the Vallejo Times-Herald:

• How this ‘vulture’ hedge fund’s gutting of local newsrooms could hurt Americans (Full transcript)
PBS News Hour, by John Yang & Ryan Connelly Holmes, Oct 21, 2021

• When this hedge fund buys local newspapers, democracy suffers (Full transcript)
NPR KQED Business News, by A. Martinez, October 18, 2021
• The Chicago Tribune Is Being Murdered Before Our Eyes – And it’s a serial killing
GEN, by Cory Doctorow, October 17, 2021

• A Secretive Hedge Fund Is Gutting Newsrooms – Inside Alden Global Capital
The Atlantic, by McKay Coppins, October 14, 2021

 

#wearamask, Benicia CA, Benicia City Council, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Face coverings, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine, Vaccine mandate

Benicia City Council will consider amendments to local mask mandate

NOTE: The information below is not the latest.  CLICK HERE for today’s latest information.
By Roger Straw, Friday, October 22, 2021  [Breaking news: Benicia City Council may weaken mask mandate – click here to scroll down.  – R.S>]

Friday, October 22: Solano County reports 79 new infections and remains in the CDC’s SUBSTANTIAL 7-day transmission rate.  Benicia also remains in SUBSTANTIAL community transmission.

Solano County COVID dashboard SUMMARY:
[Sources: see below.]

DEATHS: Solano reported no new COVID-related deaths today.  The County has reported 45 COVID deaths just since Sept 1.  A total of 315 Solano residents have died of COVID or COVID-related causes over the course of the pandemic.

CASES: The County reported 79 new COVID cases since Wednesday, 40 per day.  AGES: 18 of these 79 cases were youth and children under 18.  37 were age 18-49, 19 were age 50-64, and only 5 were 65+.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen SUBSTANTIAL community transmission, with 278 new cases.  Good news is that this is down from 430 on Wednesday.  CDC FORMULA: Based on Solano County’s population, 450 cases in 7 days would move Solano up into the CDC’s population-based definition of a HIGH transmission rate, and we would need to drop below 225 cases in 7 days to rate as having only MODERATE community transmission.

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 348 ACTIVE cases is up slightly from Wednesday’s 342, and still far above our summer rates.

CASES BY CITY on Friday, October 22:

    • Benicia added only 3 new cases today, a total of 1,519 cases since the outbreak began.  TRANSMISSION RATE: SUBSTANTIAL.  Benicia has seen 23 new cases over the last 7 days, remaining below the CDC’s definition of HIGH community transmission (defined as 28 or more cases, based on Benicia population – SEE CHART BELOW).  [Note above that Solano County is currently experiencing SUBSTANTIAL transmission.

    • Dixon added 4 new cases today, total of 2,529 cases.
    • Fairfield added 21 new cases today, total of 12,163 cases.
    • Rio Vista reported at 1 new case today, total of 597 cases.
    • Suisun City added 10 new cases today, total of 3,215 cases.
    • Vacaville added 23 new cases today, a total of 11,917 cases.
    • Vallejo added 17 new cases today, a total of 13,308 cases.
    • Unincorporated added 0 new cases today, a total of 139 cases (population figures not available).

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Solano’s 7-day average percent positivity rate was 5.5% today, up from Wednesday’s 4.6%.  COMPARE: today’s California rate is 1.4% and today’s U.S. rate is 4.9%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking Center]

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations were down today from 44 to 37 persons, but still far above the range we saw during last summer.

ICU Bed Availability is at 37% today, back in the green safe zone and up from only 11% on Monday and 20% on Wednesday.  We remain in the worrisome range we saw during last winter’s surge.

Ventilator Availability is up today from 57% to 66%, getting better.

TOTAL hospitalizations: Solano County’s TOTAL hospitalized over the course of the pandemic must be independently discovered in the County’s occasional update of hospitalizations by Age Group and by Race/Ethnicity.  The County did not update its hospitalizations charts today.  Total COVID hospitalizations in Solano remain at 2,838 since the beginning of the outbreak.

BREAKING NEWS: FACE MASKS… Benicia’s mask mandate may be weakened by City Council on Nov 16

On Tuesday, October 19, Benicia City Council reviewed our CDC-defined 7-day community transmission rate for September-October, which has yet to dip below the SUBSTANTIAL level.  Because of this poor data and according to City Resolution 21-88, Council left in place Benicia’s citywide indoors mask mandate for now.  The mandate went into effect on August 24 and includes everyone 4 years old and up when indoors in public places, even those of us who are vaccinated.  On Tuesday, Councilmember Largaespada convinced other Councilmembers and staff to bring consideration of amending the mandate back to Council on November 16.  Largaespada suggested amendments that could weaken the mandate with various exceptions, possibly including no indoor mask requirements in restaurants, bars and gyms.  Largaespada would “Limit the mask mandate to the most essential businesses in town.”  He added that groceries, pharmacies, banks and City Hall might be considered essential.

Vallejo also passed an indoors mask mandate on August 31.  In the Bay Area, Solano County REMAINS the only holdout against a mask mandate for public indoors spaces.

SOLANO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS failed to consider an agendized proposal for a countywide MASK MANDATE on Tuesday, September 14.  Recent Bay Area news put Solano in a sad light: all other county health officers issued a joint statement offering details on when they would be able to lift mask mandates (not likely soon).  TV news anchors had to point out that Solano would not be considering such a move since our health officer had not been able to “justify” a mask mandate in the first place.  The Solano Board of Supervisors has joined with Dr. Bela Matyas in officially showing poor leadership on the COVID-19 pandemic.

HOW DOES TODAY’S REPORT COMPARE?  See recent reports and others going back to April 20, 2020 on my ARCHIVE of daily Solano COVID updates (an excel spreadsheet).

>>The data on this page is from the Solano County COVID-19 Dashboard.  The Dashboard is full of much more information and updated Monday, Wednesday and Friday around 4 or 5pm.  On the County’s dashboard, you can hover a mouse or click on an item for more information.  Note the tabs at top for “Summary, Demographics” and “Vaccines.”  Click here to go to today’s Solano County Dashboard.

Sources
#wearamask, Benicia CA, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Face coverings, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine

In Solano, COVID cases are slowing some, but still spreading at CDC-defined SUBSTANTIAL rate

NOTE: The information below is not the latest.  CLICK HERE for today’s latest information.
By Roger Straw, Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Wednesday, October 20: Solano County reports only 51 new infections but remains in the CDC’s SUBSTANTIAL 7-day transmission rate.  Benicia moves down from the HIGH 7-day transmission rate – but still in SUBSTANTIAL transmission.

Solano County COVID dashboard SUMMARY:
[Sources: see below.]

DEATHS: Solano reported no new COVID-related deaths today.  The County has reported 45 COVID deaths just since Sept 1.  A total of 315 Solano residents have died of COVID or COVID-related causes over the course of the pandemic.

CASES: The County reported only 51 new COVID cases since Monday, 25 per day.  AGES: only 6 of these 51 cases were youth and children under 18.  28 were age 18-49, 15 were age 50-64, and only 4 were 65+.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen SUBSTANTIAL community transmission, with 274 new cases.  Good news is that this is down from 430 at last report.  CDC FORMULA: Based on Solano County’s population, 450 cases in 7 days would move Solano up into the CDC’s population-based definition of a HIGH transmission rate, and we would need to drop below 225 cases in 7 days to rate as having only MODERATE community transmission.

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 342 ACTIVE cases is up from Monday’s 284, and still far above our summer rates.

CASES BY CITY on Wednesday, October 20:

    • Benicia added 9 new cases today, a total of 1,516 cases since the outbreak began.  TRANSMISSION RATE: Benicia has seen 25 new cases over the last 7 days, dropping out of the CDC’s definition of HIGH community transmission (defined as 28 or more cases, based on Benicia population – SEE CHART BELOW).  [Note that Solano County is currently experiencing SUBSTANTIAL transmission.

    • Dixon added 0 new cases today, total of 2,525 cases.
    • Fairfield added 16 new cases today, total of 12,142 cases.
    • Rio Vista was reported at 2 fewer cases today (?!), total of 597 cases.
    • Suisun City added 2 new cases today, total of 3,205 cases.
    • Vacaville added 13 new cases today, a total of 11,894 cases.
    • Vallejo added 13 new cases today, a total of 13,291 cases.
    • Unincorporated added 0 new cases today, a total of 139 cases (population figures not available).

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Solano’s 7-day average percent positivity rate was 4.6% today, up from Monday’s 3.0%.  (These numbers are so low!  Let’s hope we continue at this low rate….)  COMPARE: today’s California rate is 1.4% and today’s U.S. rate is 5.3%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking Center]

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations were down today from 47 to 44 persons, still far above the range we saw during last summer.

ICU Bed Availability is still in the yellow danger zone today, but up from only 11% on Monday to 20% today.  We remain in the worrisome range we saw during last winter’s surge.

Ventilator Availability is down today from 61% to 57%, and still in the range of last winter’s surge.

TOTAL hospitalizations: Solano County’s TOTAL hospitalized over the course of the pandemic must be independently discovered in the County’s occasional update of hospitalizations by Age Group and by Race/Ethnicity.  The County did not update its Hospitalizations charts today.  Total COVID hospitalizations in Solano remain at 2,838 since the beginning of the outbreak.

FACE MASKS… Required for all in Benicia and Vallejo

Benicia City Council passed a citywide indoors mask mandate that went into effect on August 24 and includes everyone 4 years old and up when indoors in public places, even those of us who are vaccinated.  Benicia was joined by Vallejo on August 31.  In the Bay Area, Solano County REMAINS the only holdout against a mask mandate for public indoors spaces.

SOLANO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS failed to consider an agendized proposal for a countywide MASK MANDATE on Tuesday, September 14.  Recent Bay Area news put Solano in a sad light: all other county health officers issued a joint statement offering details on when they would be able to lift mask mandates (not likely soon).  TV news anchors had to point out that Solano would not be considering such a move since our health officer had not been able to “justify” a mask mandate in the first place.  The Solano Board of Supervisors has joined with Dr. Bela Matyas in officially showing poor leadership on the COVID-19 pandemic.

HOW DOES TODAY’S REPORT COMPARE?  See recent reports and others going back to April 20, 2020 on my ARCHIVE of daily Solano COVID updates (an excel spreadsheet).

>>The data on this page is from the Solano County COVID-19 Dashboard.  The Dashboard is full of much more information and updated Monday, Wednesday and Friday around 4 or 5pm.  On the County’s dashboard, you can hover a mouse or click on an item for more information.  Note the tabs at top for “Summary, Demographics” and “Vaccines.”  Click here to go to today’s Solano County Dashboard.

Sources