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

Hospitalizations surging in Solano County, fewer ICU beds and ventilators

By Roger Straw, Monday, August 2, 2021

Monday, August 2 in Solano County: 245 new COVID infections over the weekend, % of ICU beds in yellow danger zone, fewer ventilators available, rising number of hospitalizations in Solano County

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

No new deaths reported today.  The County total remains 249 COVID deaths since the pandemic began.  The County reported  245 new COVID cases over the weekend, 82 per day!

TREND: Cases-per-day were dramatically up in July

Solano County is clearly experiencing a dramatic “summer surge” in cases.  Cases-per-day were trending downward in the Spring, but rose rapidly in July:

Solano’s 797 ACTIVE cases is down from last Friday’s remarkable high of 972, which was higher than anything since February 5, 2021.  Active cases rose alarmingly in July, up from 212 cases on July 2.

Solano Positive Test Rate INCREDIBLY HIGH – much higher than US & CA!

Our 7-day average percent positivity rate was down a bit today from a shocking 19.3% on Friday to 17.6% today, over 3.5 times California’s rate and more than twice the U.S. rate.  COMPARE: The California  rate today is at 4.8% and today’s U.S. rate is 7.9%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins]  The Delta Variant is among us and spreading fast.  Time to mask up again – watch out and take care!

Hospitalizations rising sharply in Solano County!

CURRENT hospitalizations today jumped from 51 to 85 persons, higher than anytime since February 9, 2021.

ICU Beds took a dramatic turn on Friday, falling to 26%, and remains at 26% today, in the County’s yellow danger zone for the first time since March 5, 2021.

Ventilators available today fell from 73 to only 60.  Solano has not had this few ventilators on hand since February 26, 2021.

TOTAL Hospitalized – The County’s Monday-Friday updates show an intake/discharge total of CURRENTLY hospitalized cases, but never report 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 reported 4 new hospitalizations today, 1 age 18-49, 1 age 50-64, and 2 age 65+.  Percentages remain the same.  The Age Group chart now shows a total of 2,022 persons hospitalized since the beginning of the outbreak, in the following age groups:

Age Group Hospitalizations % of Total
0-17 36 2%
18-49 581 29%
50-64 543 27%
65+ 862 43%
TOTAL 2,022 100%

Hospitalizations are also recorded on the County’s demographic chart labeled “Hospitalizations by Race / Ethnicity.”  The chart was updated today, adding 3 Black persons and 1 Multi-race person.  Here are the current numbers.  Percentages remain the same.  Interestingly, the total doesn’t square with totals by age groups.

Race / Ethnicity Hospitalizations % of Total
Asians 321 17%
Black / African American 330 17%
Hispanic / Latinx 548 29%
White 614 32%
Multirace / Others 84 4%
TOTAL 1,897 100%
New State Guidelines…

COVID is clearly spreading again and surging in Solano County!  See California’s new Guidance for the Use of Face Coverings.  The new guidelines include a recommendation for universal masking indoors statewide, adding of Adult and Senior Care Facilities to settings where all individuals must wear masks indoors, and a reference to new requirements for unvaccinated workers.  Some California counties are returning to mandatory masks for all in crowded places.  In the Bay Area, Solano County is the only holdout against even RECOMMENDING masks in public indoors spaces.  Dr. Matyas needs to make some difficult decisions soon!

STUDY SHOWS HIGHER RATE OF “BREAKTHROUGH” CASES AMONG THE VACCINATED  – About wearing masks again, Social Distancing & Vaccination…

We heard seriously shocking news last Thursday about the large number of FULLY VACCINATED persons who are catching the virus and actively transmitting it.  As the Washington Post reports, “A sobering scientific analysis published Friday found that three-quarters of the people infected during an explosive coronavirus outbreak fueled by the delta variant were fully vaccinated. The report on the Massachusetts cases, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, offers key evidence bolstering the hypothesis that vaccinated people can spread the more transmissible variant and may be a factor in the summer surge of infections.” 

This is HUGE!  We were just beginning to associate more freely with fully vaccinated friends and family, and now we are to understand that some among us may be asymptomatic and unknowingly transmitting the virus, and inevitably helping spread the disease to someone who knows someone, who knows someone else, who knows yet another someone who is not vaccinated, or who is too young or too health-compromised to be vaccinated – and who may end up seriously ill or even dead!

My personal plan is to mask indoors in public now, and we’re even wondering if we should mask indoors with vaccinated family and friends!  Sheeesh, I thought we were done with that!  Everyone PLEASE talk to anyone you know who isn’t vaccinated.  This thing ain’t over yet!

Cases by City on Monday, August 2:
  • Benicia added 5 new cases today, a total of 1,115 cases since the outbreak began, 4.0% of its population of 27,570.
  • Dixon added 13 new cases today, total of 2,032 cases, 10.3% of its population of 19,794.
  • Fairfield added 77 new cases today, total of 9,806 cases, 8.4% of its population of 117,149.
  • Rio Vista added 4 new cases today, total of 433 cases, 4.6% of its population of 9,416.
  • Suisun City added 16 new cases today, total of 2,548 cases, 8.7% of its population of 29,447.
  • Vacaville added 68 new cases today, a total of 9,520 cases, 9.6% its of population of 98,807.
  • Vallejo added 62 new cases today, a total of 10,685 cases, 8.9% of its population of 119,544.
  • Unincorporated remained steady today, a total of 110 cases (population figures not available).

COMPARE: From the most recent report on Solano County’s COVID Dashboard, Friday, July 30:

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