Benicia CA, Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Coronavirus, Covid 19, Delta variant, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine

COVID case numbers back up in Solano County, 380 new infections, largely among the younger age groups

By Roger Straw, Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Wednesday, September 15: Solano reports 380 new infections since Monday, over 75% under 50 years of age

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

DEATHS: No new deaths today.  Total Solano deaths over the course of the pandemic now at 280.

CASES: The County reported  380 new COVID cases over the last two days, quickly back up to 190 per day after Monday’s drop to 50 per day, and well back in the range of last winter’s surge.

CASES BY AGE GROUP:  Solano cases are trending upward among younger residents. The percentage of Solano’s cases among our youth 0-17 years of age has increased very slowly over the course of the pandemic, starting below 6%, and only gradually reaching 12% in mid-April of 2021.  With today’s new cases alone, the two younger age groups each increased a tenth of a percentage point of total cases.  Those age 0-17 now represent 14% of total cases, and those age 18-49 represent 55.4% of total cases.  Also note that those age 0-17 accounted for 19% of today’s new cases, nearly equal to their percentage of Solano’s population – this among youth who were much less likely to be infected.  Note that Solano youth 0-17 continue to show very few hospitalizations (63 admissions, or 2% of total) and no deaths.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen 750 new cases, NEARLY TWICE the CDC’s population-based definition of a HIGH rate of transmission!  Based on Solano County population of 449,432, the CDC would rate us in “SUBSTANTIAL” transmission with 225 cases over the last 7 days.  Double that, or 450 cases in the last 7 days would rank us in “HIGH” transmission.  And we are at 750 cases as of today!  [Reference: CDC’s level for “High Community Transmission”.]

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 773 ACTIVE cases is up significantly from Monday’s 588, and up alarmingly up from 212 on July 2.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Our 7-day average percent positivity rate was 10.7% today, down from 9.1% on Monday.  COMPARE: today’s California rate is 3.3%.  Today’s U.S. rate shot up from 9.7% to 15.0%.  [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 down slightly today from 93 to 92 persons, but still in the range we saw during the winter surge.

ICU Bed Availability went up today from 17% to 23%, but still in the yellow danger zone.  Again, we are still in the range we saw during the winter surge.

Ventilator Availability fell today from 59% to only 49%, in the range of last February’s winter 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. See below.  Interestingly, the TOTAL race/ethnicity numbers don’t square with the age group numbers.

FACE MASKS… Good News in Benicia and Vallejo

GOOD NEWS! 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 even RECOMMENDING masks in public indoors spaces.

SOLANO COUNTY dropped the ball on consideration of a MASK MANDATE.  The Solano County Board of Supervisors failed to even consider the proposed MASK MANDATE on Tuesday, September 14.  The agenda called for discussion of an indoors mask mandate for all and a vaccination mandate for county workers.  Although it was not on the agenda, the Board voted 4-1 to require county-run facilities in Vallejo and Benicia to abide by local mandates.  The Board voted down the vaccination mandate 3-2, and failed to even consider the county-wide mask mandate.  The Solano Board of Supervisors now joins with Dr. Bela Matyas in officially showing poor leadership on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cases by City on Wednesday, September 15:
  • Benicia added 9 new cases today, a total of 1,378 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia has seen 24 new cases over the last 7 days, remaining just below the CDC’s definition of HIGH community transmission (based on Benicia population).  Benicia is still at the high end of the CDC’s range of SUBSTANTIAL transmission.  [Note that Solano County is also rated far above high transmission, and Solano’s 6 other cities are likely also individually experiencing high or substantial transmission.]
  • Dixon added 17 new cases today, total of 2,403 cases.
  • Fairfield added 65 new cases today, total of 11,624 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 5 new cases today, total of 547 cases.
  • Suisun City added 34 new cases today, total of 3,045 cases.
  • Vacaville added 136 new cases today, a total of 11,399 cases.
  • Vallejo added 114 new cases today, a total of 12,664 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 0 new cases today, a total of 134 cases (population figures not available).

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