By Roger Straw, Wednesday, May 5, 2021

29 new cases in our County today.  Percent positive rate remains high.  See also: People with mild COVID can have long-term health problems

Solano County COVID report on Wednesday, May 5.

[Source: see far below.  See also my ARCHIVE spreadsheet of daily Solano COVID updates.]

Solano County COVID-19 Dashboard – SUMMARY:

On May 5, Solano County reported 29 new COVID cases.  We saw 1,288 new cases in April, an average of 43 per day.  Reports are that Solano will not be joining all other Bay Area counties in the State’s orange tier anytime soon.  Solano’s Active cases remained steady today at 310.  Our percent positivity rate fell slightly today, but remains high at 7.9%.  We have not seen rates this high since Feb. 22.

Cases among children and youth have increased alarmingly

Percent of new cases today, age groups, May 5, 2021
New Cases 0-17 years	New Cases 18-49 years	New Cases 50-64 years	New Cases 65+ years	TOTAL New Cases Today
5	15	5	5	30
17%	50%	17%	17%	100%

Compare TODAY (above) with percentages since LAST SUMMER (below).  Since last June, cases among children and youths 0-17 years of age have increased dramatically as a percentage of total cases.  This chart shows the changes among age groups over the past 11 months:

Solano County COVID-19 – CASES SINCE JUNE 2020, AGE GROUP % OF TOTAL
Date	Cases % 0-17	Cases % 18-49	Cases % 50-64	Cases % 65+
6/5/20	5.8%	45.2%	25.6%	23.3%
7/1/20	9.0%	57.5%	20.1%	13.4%
8/31/20	11.0%	60.6%	19.2%	9.2%
5/5/21	12.2%	55.4%	20.5%	11.9%

Hospitalizations – very little information…

The Solano County COVID dashboard Summary tab only shows active hospitalizations for the current day (23 today, see image at top of page).  This number represents the total currently hospitalized after yesterday’s admissions and discharges.  Little can be learned from this about the accumulated total of hospitalizations since the outbreak began.

But on the Demographics tab of the County dashboard, the County “occasionally” updates the accumulated total of hospitalizations by age group.  These numbers have not been updated since early April, so it isn’t possible to determine whether there has been an increasing number of hospitalizations among our children and young adults.  I have asked Public Health Officer Dr. Bela Matyas for an update on these numbers, and he replied by email on 4/29 that he “believes” his staff will update these numbers soon, and “will double check.”  But no update as yet.  So age group hospitalization totals on the dashboard remain old and unchanged:

Solano County Total COVID Hospitalizations by AGE GROUPS as of Early April
Hospitalizations Age 0-17	Hospitalizations Age 18-49	Hospitalizations Age 50-64	Hospitalizations Age 65+
26	323	330	591

>> The virus is still on the move here.  Stay safe, get vaccinated, wear a mask and social distance!  We will get through this together.

Cases by City on Wednesday, May 5:

• Benicia remained steady today, total of 972 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia averaged 2 cases per day in April.
• Dixon added 2 new cases today, total of 1,873 cases.
• Fairfield added 7 new cases today, total of 8,848 cases.
• Rio Vista remained steady today, total of 369 cases.
• Suisun City added 3 new cases today, total of 2,235 cases.
• Vacaville added 7 new cases today, total of 8,535 cases.
• Vallejo added 10 new cases today, total of 9,708 cases.
• Unincorporated areas remained steady today, total of 102 cases.

COMPARE: Screenshots from Solano County COVID Dashboard on Tuesday, May 4: