Covid-19 claims 3 more lives in Solano

Fairfield Daily Republic, by Todd R. Hansen, July 20, 2020

FAIRFIELD — Three more Solano County residents died due at least in part to Covid-19, the county Public Health Division reported Monday.

The deaths bring the total to 34.

Dr. Bela Matyas, the county public health officer, said one of the deaths was an individual older than 65 who had been in an intensive care unit for more than a month with respiratory problems, including Covid-19.

The others were between 19 and 45 and between 45 and 64, respectively, and each had “significant” underlying health issues, Matyas said.

Matyas said he could not think of any of the county’s Covid-19 fatalities who did not have some kind of health issue that contributed to their deaths.

Many of those individuals were exposed to the disease by younger members of their families or younger friends.

Matyas reported that 53% of the 2,759 cases – or 1,462 cases – are directly linked to family socialization, and another 19% are categorized as “community transmissions,” which the county could not link directly to one person or group.

Another 12% are linked to workplace contacts, Matyas said.

The news comes on a day on which other critical novel coronavirus statistics eased a bit.

While the number of hospitalizations increased to 53, active cases decreased by 146 to 247 and the seven-day positivity testing rate fell from 9.1% Friday to 7.9% Monday, the county reported.

Matyas remained concerned about the hospital data, but added he thought the Fourth of July surge was waning.

The overall number of cases spiked to 2,759, up 205 over Friday afternoon’s report.

“We are still averaging about 70 to 80 cases a day, so the surge is continuing,” Matyas said.

The numbers prove the increases are not simply due to more testing, he said.

“The surge is real,” Matyas said.

The county plans to begin a campaign to further inform residents about the direct link between Covid-19 cases and social gatherings.

Testing reached 44,267, which is 2,769 more than reported Friday.

Vallejo experienced a spike of 82 cases to bring its total to 921, while Fairfield added 63 cases to reach 944, the county reported.

Vacaville went from 420 cases to 453; Suisun City went from 193 to 205; and Dixon went from 135 to 145. Benicia added two cases to bring its count to 57, while Rio Vista added two cases to reach 25.

The unincorporated area of the county has nine cases, up one from Friday’s report.  […continued…]