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

ICU beds in Solano County now in red warning zone

By Roger Straw, Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Wednesday, September 8: Solano reports 406 new infections and only 9% of ICU beds available (red warning zone)

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

DEATHS: Good news, no new deaths were reported over the 5-day holiday hiatus.  Total Solano deaths over the course of the pandemic remain at 276.

CASES: The County reported  406 new COVID cases in the last five days, 81 per day, down significantly from last week, but still in the range of last winter’s surge.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen 1,967 new cases, OVER FOUR TIMES the CDC’s 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 1,967 cases as of today!  [Reference: CDC’s level for “High Community Transmission”.]

YOUTH CASES: Case numbers continue to show a startling increase in the percentage of new cases among young persons age 0-17, increasing another tenth of a percent today to a new high of 13.9% of total cases.  The percentage of youth cases increased very, very slowly over the course of the pandemic, starting below 6%, and only gradually reaching 12% in mid-April of 2021.  The percentage of youth cases has jumped a full 0.9% since mid-August.

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 813 ACTIVE cases is down sharply from last Friday’s 1,051, but still alarmingly up from 212 on July 2, and in the range we experienced during the deadly surge last winter.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Our 7-day average percent positivity rate was 11.7% today, down from 13.9% on last Friday, but 3.5 times today’s California rate of 3.3% and 1.25 times today’s U.S. rate of 9.4%. [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 today from 123 to 112 persons, but still in the range we saw during the winter surge.

ICU Bed Availability dropped alarmingly to only 9% of ICU beds available today, in the RED WARNING ZONE.  This is the first time Solano ICU beds were in the red zone since January 27, 2021.

Ventilator Availability was up today from 44% to 51%, but still in the range of last February’s winter surge.

TOTAL hospitalizations  The County’s Monday-Friday dashboard shows an intake/discharge total of CURRENTLY hospitalized cases (above), but never reports 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 updated its Hospitalizations charts today.  See the Age Group chart and the Race / Ethnicity chart below.  Interestingly, the 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. The mandate went into effect immediately and includes everyone 4 years old and up when indoors in public places, even those of us who are vaccinated.  The mask resolution, press release, and a flyer now appear on the City website.

Benicia was the first Solano city to take action despite the County’s lack of strong guidance on masks.  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.  Hopefully, Dr. Matyas will learn from Benicia and Vallejo, and make the necessary difficult decisions, but all reports are that he intends not to do so. 

Please mask indoors in public places now, and maybe even indoors in crowded gatherings at home with vaccinated family and friends!  PLEASE talk to anyone you know who isn’t vaccinated.  This thing ain’t over yet!

Cases by City on Wednesday, September 8:
  • Benicia added 9 new cases today, a total of 1,354 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia has seen 78 new cases over the last 7 days, nearly 3 times the CDC’s definition of HIGH community transmission level based on Benicia population.  [Note that Solano County is also rated in high transmission, and Solano’s 6 other cities are likely also individually experiencing high transmission.]
  • Dixon added 25 new cases today, total of 2,362 cases.
  • Fairfield added 106 new cases today, total of 11,488 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 7 new cases today, total of 533 cases.
  • Suisun City added 34 new cases today, total of 2,989 cases.
  • Vacaville added 115 new cases today, a total of 11,138 cases.
  • Vallejo added 109 new cases today, a total of 12,446 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 1 new case 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