Monday, August 9: Over the weekend, Solano County reports 5 COVID dead*, 208 new infections.

Solano County COVID dashboard SUMMARY:

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

DEATHS: Solano County reported 5 new deaths today, 1 person age 50-64, and 4 age 65+.  The County total rose to 254 COVID deaths since the pandemic began. *UPDATE/DETAILS: The Fairfield Daily Republic reports that all the deaths were “from September to December 2020, and four were individuals who died at home. The other was an elderly man in a memory care facility….Of the community deaths, there was one man in his 50s, two men over 65 and one woman over 65. All had substantial health issues, [Solano Health Officer] Matyas said.”

CASES: The County reported  208 new COVID cases over the weekend, 60 per day (down from 162 per day last Friday).  TREND: Cases-per-day are dramatically up in July/August.  We are clearly experiencing a dramatic “summer surge” in cases.  Cases-per-day were trending downward in the Spring, but rose rapidly in July and are extremely high in early August:

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 626 ACTIVE cases is down from Friday’s high of 889, and nearing our remarkable high the previous Friday of 972.  Active cases are up alarmingly from 212 on July 2, and higher than anything since last February’s surge.

Hospitalizations up again today

CURRENT hospitalizations today rose from 87 to 101 persons, higher than anytime since February 4, 2021.

ICU Beds Available took a slight turn upward today, from 29% to 34%, but barely out of the County’s yellow danger zone.

Ventilators Available fell slightly today from 68% to 66%.

TOTAL Hospitalized – The County’s Monday-Friday dashboard shows an intake/discharge total of CURRENTLY hospitalized cases (above), but never reports on the TOTAL hospitalized over the course of the pandemic.  That total must be independently discovered in the County’s occasional update of the Hospitalizations by Age Group chart.  The County updated its Hospitalizations by Age Group chart today.  The County reported 2 new hospitalizations today, 1 age 50-64, and 1 age 65+. Percentages remain the same.  The Age Group chart shows a total of 2,035 persons hospitalized since the beginning of the outbreak, in the following age groups:

Hospitalizations are also recorded on the County’s demographic chart labeled “Hospitalizations by Race / Ethnicity.”  The chart was updated today, adding 2 persons: both White.  Here are the current numbers.  Interestingly, the total doesn’t square with the total by age groups.

Face Coverings…

See California’s recent Guidance for the Use of Face Coverings.  The guidelines include a recommendation for universal masking indoors statewide, adding of Adult and Senior Care Facilities to settings where all individuals must wear masks indoors, and a reference to new requirements for unvaccinated workers.  Some California cities and counties are returning to mandatory masks for all in crowded places.  In the Bay Area, Solano County is the only holdout against even RECOMMENDING masks in public indoors spaces.  Dr. Matyas needs to make some difficult decisions – and soon!

STUDY SHOWS HIGHER RATE OF “BREAKTHROUGH” CASES AMONG THE VACCINATED  – About wearing masks again, Social Distancing & Vaccination…

We heard seriously shocking news on July 29 about the large number of FULLY VACCINATED persons who are catching the virus and actively transmitting it.  As the Washington Post reports, “A sobering scientific analysis published Friday found that three-quarters of the people infected during an explosive coronavirus outbreak fueled by the delta variant were fully vaccinated. …vaccinated people can spread the more transmissible variant and may be a factor in the summer surge of infections.” 

This is HUGE!  We were just beginning to associate more freely with fully vaccinated friends and family, and now we understand that some among us may be asymptomatic and unknowingly transmitting the virus, and inevitably helping spread the disease to someone who knows someone, who knows someone else, who knows yet another someone who is not vaccinated, or who is too young or too health-compromised to be vaccinated – and who may end up seriously ill or even dead!  Please mask indoors in public now, and maybe even indoors with vaccinated family and friends!  And PLEASE talk to anyone you know who isn’t vaccinated.  This thing ain’t over yet!

Cases by City on Monday, August 9:

• Benicia added 9 new cases today, a total of 1,141 cases since the outbreak began, 4.1% of its population of 27,570.
• Dixon added 15 new cases today, total of 2,074 cases, 10.4% of its population of 19,794.
• Fairfield added 61 new cases today, total of 10,054 cases, 8.5% of its population of 117,149.
• Rio Vista added 2 new cases today, total of 450 cases, 4.8% of its population of 9,416.
• Suisun City added 18 new cases today, total of 2,623 cases, 8.8% of its population of 29,447.
• Vacaville added 49 new cases today, a total of 9,695 cases, 9.8% its of population of 98,807.
• Vallejo added 53 new cases today, a total of 10,903 cases, 9.1% of its population of 119,544.
• Unincorporated added 1 new case today, a total of 116 cases (population figures not available).

COMPARE: From the most recent report on Solano County’s COVID Dashboard, Friday, August 6:

The data on this page is from today’s and the previous Solano County COVID-19 Dashboard.  The Dashboard is full of much more information and updated weekdays 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

• Solano County Coronavirus Dashboard (posted on the County website today).
• See also my ARCHIVE of daily Solano COVID updates (an excel spreadsheet).