#wearamask, Benicia CA, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Face coverings, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine

Solano COVID hospitalizations up, only 11% of ICU beds available, 3 new deaths

NOTE: The information below is not the latest.  CLICK HERE for today’s latest information.
By Roger Straw, Monday, October 18, 2021

Monday, October 18: Solano County reports 148 new infections over the weekend, remaining in the CDC’s SUBSTANTIAL 7-day transmission rate.  Benicia remains in the HIGH 7-day transmission rate.

Solano County COVID dashboard SUMMARY:
[Sources: see below.]

DEATHS: Solano reported 3 new COVID-related deaths today.  The County has reported 45 COVID deaths just since Sept 1.  A total of 315 Solano residents have died of COVID or COVID-related causes over the course of the pandemic.

CASES: The County reported 148 new COVID cases over the weekend, 49 per day.  AGES – TRENDING YOUNGER: 39 of these 148 cases (26%) were youth and children under 18.  48% were age 18-49, only 14% were age 50-64, and only 5% were 65+.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen SUBSTANTIAL community transmission, with 430 new cases, up from 406 at last report.  CDC FORMULA: Based on Solano County’s population, 450 cases in 7 days would move Solano up into the CDC’s population-based definition of a HIGH transmission rate, and we would need to drop below 225 cases in 7 days to rate as having only MODERATE community transmission.

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 284 ACTIVE cases is down substantially from Friday’s 397, but still far above our summer rates.

CASES BY CITY on Monday, October 18:

    • Benicia added 11 new cases today, a total of 1,507 cases since the outbreak began.  TRANSMISSION RATE: Benicia has seen 40 new cases over the last 7 days, continuing in the CDC’s definition of HIGH community transmission (defined as 28 or more cases, based on Benicia population – SEE CHART BELOW).  [Note that Solano County is currently experiencing SUBSTANTIAL transmission.

    • Dixon added 7 new cases today, total of 2,525 cases.
    • Fairfield added 33 new cases today, total of 12,126 cases.
    • Rio Vista added 7 new cases today, total of 599 cases.
    • Suisun City added 9 new cases today, total of 3,203 cases.
    • Vacaville added 32 new cases today, a total of 11,881 cases.
    • Vallejo added 49 new cases today, a total of 13,278 cases.
    • Unincorporated added 0 new cases today, a total of 139 cases (population figures not available).

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Solano’s 7-day average percent positivity rate dropped to 3.0% today, down substantially from Friday’s 5.7%, and the lowest we’ve seen in 13 months, on September 18, 2020!  (This number is so low, I’m suspicious of a data error.  Let’s hope we continue at this low rate….)  COMPARE: today’s California rate is 1.6% and today’s U.S. rate is 5.7%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking Center]

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations were up today from 40 to 47 persons, and far above the range we saw during last summer.

ICU Bed Availability is alarmingly low again today, down from 13% on Friday to only 11% today, just barely above the 10% red warning zone.  We remain in the worrisome range we saw during last winter’s surge.

Ventilator Availability is up today from 52% to 61%, but still in the range of last winter’s surge.

TOTAL hospitalizations: Solano County’s TOTAL hospitalized over the course of the pandemic must be independently discovered in the County’s occasional update of hospitalizations by Age Group and by Race/Ethnicity.  The County did not update its Hospitalizations charts today.

FACE MASKS… Required for all in Benicia and Vallejo

Benicia City Council passed a citywide indoors mask mandate that went into effect on August 24 and includes everyone 4 years old and up when indoors in public places, even those of us who are vaccinated.  Benicia was joined by Vallejo on August 31.  In the Bay Area, Solano County REMAINS the only holdout against a mask mandate for public indoors spaces.

SOLANO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS failed to consider an agendized proposal for a countywide MASK MANDATE on Tuesday, September 14.  Recent Bay Area news put Solano in a sad light: all other county health officers issued a joint statement offering details on when they would be able to lift mask mandates (not likely soon).  TV news anchors had to point out that Solano would not be considering such a move since our health officer had not been able to “justify” a mask mandate in the first place.  The Solano Board of Supervisors has joined with Dr. Bela Matyas in officially showing poor leadership on the COVID-19 pandemic.

HOW DOES TODAY’S REPORT COMPARE?  See recent reports and others going back to April 20, 2020 on my ARCHIVE of daily Solano COVID updates (an excel spreadsheet).

>>The data on this page is from the Solano County COVID-19 Dashboard.  The Dashboard is full of much more information and updated Monday, Wednesday and Friday 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