July 30, 2020, 2:00pm

The Solano County COVID-19 Dashboard was not available at the usual time on Wednesday evening, so I was unable to post my usual report in a timely fashion.  Here is an updated report based on the County’s revised posting.  – R.S.

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[NOTE: Solano County publishes a DAILY update, and displays past weeks and months in epidemic curve charts.  However, the curve charts do not display an accurate number of cases for the most recent days, as there is a lag time in receiving test results.  This methodology is accurate in a way, but it misleads the public by consistently displaying a recent downward curve which is corrected upward on a later date.  For a complete archive of day by day data, see my Excel ARCHIVE – R.S.]

Wednesday, July 29: 74 new cases today,
1 new death.  Since the outbreak started: 3,462 cases, 37 deaths.

Compare previous report, Tuesday July 28:Summary

• Solano County reported 74 new cases today, total of 3,462 cases since the outbreak started.  Over the last 7 days, Solano reported 480 new cases, an average of 69 per day.
• Deaths – 1 new death today, someone 65 years or older, total of 37 deaths.
• Active cases – Solano reported 28 more ACTIVE cases today, total of 251.  Last week Solano hit a record high of 440 active cases.  Note that only 50 of these 251 people are hospitalized, so there are a lot of infected folks out among us, hopefully quarantined.  One wonders… is the County equipped to contact trace so many infected persons?  (See SF Chronicle report on contact tracing in Bay Area – “Solano County did not respond”.)
• Hospitalizations –no increase in the number of currently hospitalized persons today, total of 50.  Also no change in the total number hospitalized since the outbreak started, 162.  (The County no longer reports Total Hospitalized, but I have added the hospitalization numbers in the Age Group chart.)  For the 2nd day in a row, the County offers no information about ICU beds and ventilators.  Apparently, the County does not collect or receive this data from our hospitals, but relies on data collected by the State.  You would think that when the County gathers data on Currently Hospitalized they could also easily collect the ICU bed and ventilator data.  Or… ??
• Testing – 637 residents were tested since Friday, total of 51,562.  But we still have a long way to go: only 11.5% of Solano County’s 447,643 residents (2019) have been tested.

Percent Positive Test Rate

Solano County reported today’s 7-day percent positive test rate up from 5.8% yesterday to 6.5% today.  (The chart may be misleading – see NOTE at top of this page.)  The County posted
a record high of 9.3% last week.  CONTEXT: California’s 7-day positivity rate is reported today at 7.0%.  Increasingly, health officials and news reports are focusing on percent positive test rates.  This information is immediately important, as test positivity is one of the best metrics for measuring the spread of the virus.  Positive test rates in California and other southwestern states have been on the rise.

By Age Group

• Youth 17 and under – only 3 new cases today, total of 348 cases. No new hospitalizations, only 2 hospitalizations since the outbreak began.  A week ago, there were 305 cases among this age group – we’ve seen 43 new cases in 7 days.  Good news – this is a bit of a slowdown from recent weeks.  Nonetheless, I continue to raise an alarm for Solano’s youth.  Cases among Solano youth have increased to over 10% of the 3,462 total confirmed cases.
• Persons 18-49 years of age – 52 new cases today, total of 2,111 cases.  This age group represents 61% of the 3,462 total cases, by far the highest percentage of all age groups.  The County reported no new hospitalizations in this age group today, total of 45 hospitalized since the outbreak began, and no new deaths among this age group, total of 3 deaths.
• Persons 50-64 years of age – 16 new cases today, total of 663 cases.  This age group represents over 19% of the 3,462 total cases.  The County reported no new hospitalizations in this age group today, total of 51 hospitalized since the outbreak began, and no new deaths among this age group, total of 4 deaths.
• Persons 65 years or older – 3 new cases today, total of 339 cases.  This age group represents just under 10% of the 3,462 total cases. No new hospitalizations, total of 64 hospitalized since the outbreak began.  1 new death, total of 30.  In this older age group, nearly 19% of cases required hospitalization at one time, a substantially higher percentage than in the lower age groups.  This group accounts for 30 of the 37 deaths, or 81%.

City Data

• Benicia remained steady yesterday, total of 80 cases.  Benicia was extremely stable with only 2 new cases in the month of June.  Now Benicia has seen 15 new cases in 7 days.
• Dixon added 4 new cases today, total of 183 cases.
• Fairfield added 24 new cases today, total of 1,148.
• Rio Vista remained steady today, total of 26 cases.
• Suisun City added 5 new cases today, total of 253 cases.
• Vacaville added 18 new cases today, total of 596 cases.
• Vallejo added 22 new cases today, total of 1,164 cases.  Vallejo has added 129 cases in the last 5 days – a major outbreak?  Vallejo replaced Fairfield yesterday with more positive cases than anywhere in Solano County.
• Unincorporated areas – Unincorporated areas added 1 case today, total of 12 cases.

Race / Ethnicity

The County report on race / ethnicity includes case numbers, hospitalizations, deaths and Solano population statistics.  There are also tabs showing a calculated rate per 100,000 by race/ethnicity for each of these boxes.  This information is discouragingly similar to national reports that indicate worse outcomes among black and brown Americans.  As of today:

• White Americans are 39% of the population in Solano County, but only account for 21% of cases, 25% of hospitalizations and 27% of deaths.
• Black Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 13% of cases, but 23% of hospitalizations, and 30% of deaths.
• Latinx Americans are 26% of Solano’s population, but account for 30% of cases, 32% of hospitalizations, and 24% of deaths.
• Asian Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 9% of cases and 12% of hospitalizations, but 15% of deaths.

Much 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.