Coronavirus, Covid 19, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Officer Bela Matyas

Solano County COVID numbers going in wrong direction

Guest dine inside at Johnny Carino’s in the Gateway shopping area in Fairfield, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020. Restaurants in Solano County got the go-ahead for limited in-restaurant dining, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020. (Glen Faison/Daily Republic)

Solano case numbers climb; total deaths up to 63

Fairfield Daily Republic, By Todd R. Hansen, September 25, 2020

FAIRFIELD — Solano County is going in the wrong direction – and so are the immediate hopes of moving to an even less restrictive Covid-19 tier.

The county reported Thursday that cases increased by 46, taking the total to 6,278.

Solano County’s daily case average needs to be around 18 in order to graduate from the red tier to the orange tier.

The seven-day testing positivity rate, listed Thursday at 3.9%, remains within the range to advance to the next tier, which requires the rate to be below 4.9%.

Solano County’s public health officer Dr. Bela Matyas addresses the Board of Supervisors about the novel coronavirus pandemic, 3/24/20. (Robinson Kuntz/Daily Republic)

Dr. Bela Matyas, the county public health officer, said two of the three new deaths reported Thursday were past cases, but one is new – an elderly resident who died at home, and like many other Covid-related fatalities, the person had underlying health issues.

The death total is now at 63.

The number of current hospitalizations is at 21, down one from Wednesday, while active cases climbed from 244 to 276, the county reported.

Fairfield added 16 cases to bring its count to 2,051, while Vallejo, now at 2,071, added 11 cases. Vacaville added nine, bringing its total to 1,052.

Suisun City (458) added five cases; Dixon (413) added three; Benicia (165) and Rio Vista (48) each added one. There were no new cases reported in the unincorporated area of the county, which has 22 cases.

The number of completed tests was reported by the county at 86,198, and increase of 513 over Wednesday’s update.

Solano County graduated Tuesday from the most-restrictive purple tier in the state’s color-coded Covid-19 monitoring system to the red tier, which allows limited business reopenings and opens the door for local school districts to soon begin some level of in-person classroom instruction.

A group of friends play cards in the Solano Town Center food court, Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020. Food courts like the one in the Solano Town Center could open to 25% capacity, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020. (Robinson Kuntz/Daily Republic)

The purple tier represents 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.  [continued]