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

Three more dead in Solano County – total of six COVID deaths this week

NOTE: The information below is not the latest.  CLICK HERE for today’s latest information.
By Roger Straw, Friday, November 19, 2021
[NOTE: Benicia City Council decides to keep mask mandate in effect at least until Dec. 7 – click to scroll down.  – R.S.]

Friday, November 19: Solano County reports 3 new deaths (6 this week), and 80 new infections. Solano remains in SUBSTANTIAL rate of transmission.  Benicia sees 3 new infections, remains in MODERATE transmission.

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

DEATHS: Solano reported 3 new COVID-related deaths again today, 6 this week.  One who died was age 18-49,  one age 50-64 and one over 65.  One was Asian, one Hispanic/Latinx, and  one White.  The County reported 27 COVID deaths in September, 18 in October, and 6 so far in November.  A new total of 321 Solano residents have died of COVID or COVID-related causes over the course of the pandemic.

CASES: The County reported 80 new COVID cases today.  CASES BY AGE GROUP: 17 of these 80 cases (21%) were youth and children under 18.  46 were age 18-49, 13 were age 50-64, and only 6 were 65+.  Below is my color-coded analysis of cases reported by age group, as a percentage of total cases.  I am showing increases in red and decreases in green as reported by Solano County since April of 2020.  Note  the steady increase among children and youth of Solano County.  The population of those age 0-17 in Solano County is roughly 22%.COMPARE: U.S. cases among age 0-17 as percentage of total cases is at 15.4% as of today. (From the CDC covid-data-tracker.)

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen SUBSTANTIAL community transmission, with 271 new cases (down from 298 on Wednesday).  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 will need to drop below 225 cases in 7 days to rate as having only MODERATE community transmission.

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 366 ACTIVE cases is up from Wednesday’s 352, and still far above our summer rates.

CASES BY CITY on Friday, November 19:

  • Benicia added 3 new cases today, a total of 1,570 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia remained at the very top of the MODERATE range of community transmission with 11 new cases over the last 7 days. Benicia has now seen MODERATE 7-day spread for 7 consecutive Solano updates (16 days, since Wed. Nov. 3) – SEE CHART BELOW.  MODERATE is defined as less than 14 cases, based on Benicia population.  Benicia will need to maintain fewer than 14 new cases per 7 days for 30 consecutive days before relaxing the mask mandate.  See update on Benicia’s mask mandate below.  And note above that Solano County is currently experiencing SUBSTANTIAL transmission.

  • Dixon added 2 new cases today, total of 2,571 cases.
  • Fairfield added 21 new cases today, total of 12,470 cases.
  • Rio Vista reported 1 fewer (!?) new cases today, total of 626 cases.
  • Suisun City added 3 new cases today, total of 3,288 cases.
  • Vacaville added 33 new cases today, a total of 12,274 cases.
  • Vallejo added 19 new cases today, a total of 13,587 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 0 new cases today, a total of 143 cases.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Solano’s 7-day percent positivity rate was 4.8% today, down from 5.2% on Wednesday.  COMPARE: Today’s California rate is 1.5%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking Center]  Today’s U.S. rate is 6.18%. [Source: CDC COVID Data Tracker.] 

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations were up a bit today from 24 to 26 persons, and still above the range we saw during last summer.

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.  Solano Public Health did not update its age and race hospitalizations charts today.  Solano hospitals have previously reported a total of 3,017 COVID patients since the beginning of the outbreak.

ICU Bed Availability is 39% today, up from 32% on Wednesday, in the County’s GREEN zone, but we remain in the worrisome range we saw during last winter’s surge.

Ventilator Availability today rose today from 69% to 75%.

UPDATE on Benicia’s mask mandate
Benicia’s mask mandate will remain in effect, at least through December 7.  See
Vallejo also passed an indoors mask mandate 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