Benicia CA, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Delta variant, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine

Solano reports 327 new infections today, 2 new deaths, 904 ACTIVE cases.  Benicia passes masking ordinance!

By Roger Straw, Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Wednesday, August 25: Solano reports 327 new infections today, 2 new deaths, 904 ACTIVE cases.  Benicia passes masking ordinance!

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

DEATHS: The County reported 2 new deaths today, both age 50-64.  One was White and one was Multi-race.  Total deaths now number 266.

Percentage of cases by age groups. Click to enlarge.

CASES: The County reported  a whopping 327 new COVID over the last 2 days, 164 per day, even higher than last week’s 157 per day. Case numbers show a startling increase in the PERCENTAGE OF YOUNG PERSONS age 0-17, increasing another tenth of a percent to a new high of 13.3% of total cases.  The percentage of youth cases has increased very slowly over the course of the pandemic, starting below 6%, and very gradually reaching 12% in mid-April of 2021.  CASES-PER DAY TREND (All Age Groups): We are experiencing a dramatic “summer surge” now.  Cases-per-day were trending downward in the Spring, but rose rapidly in July and are skyrocketing here in August:ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 904 ACTIVE cases is up from Monday’s 833, and alarmingly up from 212 on July 2, and in the range we experienced during the winter surge.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Our 7-day average percent positivity rate was 17.4% today, up from 15.7% Monday, over twice the purple tier margin, and about 4 times today’s California rate of 4.4% and over 1.5 times today’s U.S. rate of 11.1%. [Source: Johns Hopkins]  WARNING: The Delta Variant is here in Solano County and spreading fast.  Time to mask up again – watch out and take care!  
Hospitalizations

CURRENT hospitalizations were up slightly today from 143 to 147 persons, still higher than any time since the winter surge.

ICU Bed Availability was up from yesterday’s shockingly low 18%, showing 30% of beds available today.  Still in the yellow danger zone.

Ventilator Availability was up slightly today from 51% to 58%, and continuing in the range we saw last winter.

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 charts today.  The Age Group chart shows 28 new hospitalizations, 5 age 18-49, 15 age 50-64, and 3 over 65 – a total of 2,084 persons hospitalized since the beginning of the outbreak, in the following age groups:

Age Group Hospitalizations % of Total
0-17 36 2%
18-49 590 28%
50-64 564 27%
65+ 894 43%
TOTAL 2,084 100%

The Hospitalizations by Race / Ethnicity chart shows  23 new hospitalizations today, 2 Asians, 1 Black, 7 Latinx, 10 White, and 3 Multirace – a total of 1,952 persons hospitalized since the beginning of the outbreak.  Here are the current numbers and percentages.  Interestingly, the total doesn’t square with the total by age groups.

Race / Ethnicity Hospitalizations % of Total
Asians 325 17%
Black / African American 337 17%
Hispanic / Latinx 562 29%
White 641 33%
Multirace / Others 87 4%
TOTAL 1,952 100%
Face Coverings… Good News in Benicia

GOOD NEWS!  Yesterday, Benicia Council passed a citywide indoors mask mandate. The Council heard from Dr. Bela Matyas, Dr. Bonnie Hamilton and the public, which was almost entirely in favor of a mandate and included a number of medical professionals.  Councilmembers debated on various finer points, and passed the resolution on a 5-0 vote around 10:15pm. The mandate went into effect immediately. Everyone 4 years old and up must now wear a mask indoors in public places, even those of us who are vaccinated. A press release, the order and a flyer now appears on the City website.  For those interested in viewing last night’s procedings, the video is posted on the City website, at benicia.granicus.com/player/clip/3528?view_id=1…. The mask mandate discussion begins around minute 23.

Benicia is the first Solano city to take action despite the County’s lack of strong guidance on masks.  In the Bay Area, Solano County REMAINS the only holdout against even RECOMMENDING masks in public indoors spaces.  Hopefully, Dr. Matyas will learn from Benicia, and make the necessary difficult decisions. 

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 Wednesday, August 25:
  • Benicia added 8 new cases today, a total of 1,224 cases since the outbreak began, 4.4% of its population of 27,570.
  • Dixon added 25 new cases today, total of 2,194 cases, 11.1% of its population of 19,794.
  • Fairfield added 87 new cases today, total of 10,683 cases, 9.1% of its population of 117,149.
  • Rio Vista added 13 new cases today, total of 488 cases, 5.2% of its population of 9,416.
  • Suisun City added 23 new cases today, total of 2,776 cases, 9.4% of its population of 29,447.
  • Vacaville added 74 new cases today, a total of 10,249 cases, 10.4% its of population of 98,807.
  • Vallejo added 97 new cases today, a total of 11,593 cases, 9.7% of its population of 119,544.
  • Unincorporated remained steady today, a total of 122 cases (population figures not available).

COMPARE: From the most recent report on Solano County’s COVID Dashboard, Monday, August 23:

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