Solano reports 3 more Covid-related deaths, but from past months

Fairfield Daily Reporter, By Todd R. Hansen, September 24, 2020

FAIRFIELD — Solano County’s Covid-19 death total rose Wednesday to 60, but the three deaths actually occurred in May, June and July.

Dr. Bela Matyas, the county public health officer, said the Public Health Division is conducting an audit of its records in comparison to death certificates and that is when the discrepancy was found.

“We knew they were Covid-positive, but we didn’t know they died (because) they died at home and there was no autopsy,” Matyas said.

He noted, again, that all Covid-related deaths are recorded in those terms because the virus is present even if it is not the primary cause of the death, or in some cases, not even a contributing cause.

“So what we are trying to do is reconcile the number of deaths with the death certificates,” he said.

Matyas said he expects more to be uncovered as the survey continues.

More troubling to the county moving forward was the 38 new confirmed cases reported Wednesday.

The county needs to be closer to 18 new daily cases in order to move into the orange tier from the red tier, a step that will ease more restrictions on businesses that are open and allow even more businesses and community activities to restart.

Solano County was in the most-restrictive purple tier in the state’s color-coded monitoring system until Tuesday, meaning there was widespread transmission of the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19. The red tier represents substantial transmission of the virus, while the orange tier represents moderate spread of the virus and the yellow tier indicates minimal transmission.

The state puts the county’s daily case average at 28 because it uses a slightly different reporting structure than the county’s approach of using the day of testing.

Still, Matyas said it will be a challenge for the county to knock the average down by 10 cases per day, especially if there are any more care facility outbreaks.

The other critical piece is the seven-day positivity testing rate, which as of Wednesday was 3.3%, comfortably below the high end of the orange tier allowance of 4.9%.

The total number of cases in Solano County rose to 6,232.

The deaths are up to 60, with hospitalizations climbing from 20 Tuesday to 22 Wednesday and active cases increasing from 220 to 244, the county reported.

Fairfield, after a day with no new cases reported, added 13 to its total, now at 2,035. Vallejo added 10 to reach 2,060, while nine new cases in Vacaville took that city’s count to 1,043.

There were two cases added to Rio Vista’s tally, which is reported at 47, and one in Benicia, with a new total of 164 cases. There were no new cases reported in Dixon (453) or in the unincorporated area of the county, which has 22 cases.

The number of completed tests was reported at 85,685, up 335 over Tuesday’s update.  [continued]