Solano County reports 69 new infections, City of Benicia posts agenda for amending mask mandate

NOTE: The information below is not the latest.  CLICK HERE for today’s latest information.

By Roger Straw, Wednesday, November 10, 2021  [Note:  Be aware that the Benicia City Council may weaken its mask mandate on Nov. 16 – click here to scroll down.  – R.S.]

Wednesday, November 10: Solano County reports 69 new infections in last 2 days, remains in SUBSTANTIAL rate of transmission.

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

DEATHS: Solano reported no new COVID-related deaths today.  The County reported 27 COVID deaths in September, 18 in October, and good news: NONE since October 18.  Bad news: a total of 315 Solano residents have died of COVID or COVID-related causes over the course of the pandemic.

CASES: The County reported 69 new COVID cases since Monday. AGES: 11 of these 69 cases were youth and children under 18.  38 were age 18-49, 14 were age 50-64, and only 6 were 65+.  Thankfully, last Friday’s uptick in the number of seniors (8.5 per day) was very shortlived.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen SUBSTANTIAL community transmission, with 242 new cases (down from 258 on Monday).  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 316 ACTIVE cases is down substantially from Monday’s 332, but still far above our summer rates.

CASES BY CITY on Wednesday, November 10:

  • Benicia added 4 new cases today, a total of 1,554 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia remained in the MODERATE range of community transmission with ONLY 11 new cases over the last 7 days. Benicia has now seen MODERATE 7-day spread for 3 consecutive Solano updates (7 days) – SEE CHART BELOWMODERATE 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.  [Note above that Solano County is currently experiencing SUBSTANTIAL transmission.

  • Dixon added 0 new cases today, total of 2,559 cases.
  • Fairfield added 17 new cases today, total of 12,380 cases.
  • Rio Vista reported 3 new cases today, total of 619 cases.
  • Suisun City added 3 new cases today, total of 3,259 cases.
  • Vacaville added 17 new cases today, a total of 12,145 cases.
  • Vallejo added 24 new cases today, a total of 13,494 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 1 new case today, a total of 141 cases.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Solano’s 7-day percent positivity rate was 4.5% today, unchanged from Monday’s rate.  COMPARE: Today’s California rate is 1.9%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking Center]  Today’s U.S. rate is 5.2%. [Source: CDC COVID Data Tracker.] 

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations were down today from 34 to 32 persons, but still far 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 admitted a TOTAL of 2,990 COVID patients since the beginning of the outbreak.  (Data on age is more reliable than that on race/ethnicity.)

ICU Bed Availability is 28% today, down from 35% on Monday, moving back into the YELLOW DANGER zone.  We remain in the worrisome range we saw during last winter’s surge.

Ventilator Availability today fell today from 69% to 60%.

ALERT! Benicia’s mask mandate may be weakened by City Council next Tuesday, Nov 16  – See: “Update on Face Coverings Mandate” Benicia City Council Agenda, Item 21.A, on page 9)

On Tuesday, October 19, Benicia City Council reviewed our CDC-defined 7-day community transmission rate for September-October, which has yet to dip below the SUBSTANTIAL level.  Because of this poor data and according to City Resolution 21-88, Council left in place Benicia’s citywide indoors mask mandate for now.  The mandate 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.  On Oct. 19, Councilmember Largaespada convinced other Councilmembers and staff to bring consideration of amending the mandate back to Council on November 16 – see Agenda, p. 9.  Largaespada suggested amendments that could weaken the mandate with various exceptions, possibly including no indoor mask requirements in restaurants, bars and gyms.  Largaespada would “Limit the mask mandate to the most essential businesses in town.”  He added that groceries, pharmacies, banks and City Hall might be considered essential.

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

Solano County reports 99 new infections, adds 152 previously unreported hospitalizations

NOTE: The information below is not the latest.  CLICK HERE for today’s latest information.

By Roger Straw, Monday, November 8, 2021  [Note:  Be aware that the Benicia City Council may weaken its mask mandate on Nov. 16 – click here to scroll down.  – R.S.]

Monday, November 8: Solano County reports 99 new infections over the weekend, remains in SUBSTANTIAL rate of transmission. Solano Public Health updated hospitalization details (age and race), adding 152 new hospitalizations since October 15, pandemic total nearing 3,000.

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

DEATHS: Solano reported no new COVID-related deaths today.  The County reported 27 COVID deaths in September, 18 in October, and good news: NONE since October 18.  Bad news: a total of 315 Solano residents have died of COVID or COVID-related causes over the course of the pandemic.

CASES: The County reported 99 new COVID cases over the weekend. AGES: 26 of these 99 cases were youth and children under 18.  51 were age 18-49, 17 were age 50-64, and only 5 were 65+.  Thankfully, Friday’s uptick in the number of seniors (8.5 per day) was very shortlived.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen SUBSTANTIAL community transmission, with 258 new cases (down slightly from 261 on Friday).  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 332 ACTIVE cases is down substantially from Friday’s 394, but still far above our summer rates.

CASES BY CITY on Monday, November 8:

  • Benicia added 3 new cases today, a total of 1,550 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia remained in the MODERATE range of community transmission with ONLY 9 new cases over the last 7 days. This is the first time Benicia has seen MODERATE 7-day spread for 2 consecutive Solano updates since July 9.  (MODERATE is defined as less than 14 cases, based on Benicia population – SEE CHART BELOW).  Benicia will need to maintain fewer than 14 new cases per 7 days for 30 consecutive days before relaxing the mask mandate.  [Note above that Solano County is currently experiencing SUBSTANTIAL transmission.

  • Dixon added 3 new cases today, total of 2,559 cases.
  • Fairfield added 37 new cases today, total of 12,363 cases.
  • Rio Vista reported 2 new cases today, total of 616 cases.
  • Suisun City added 2 new cases today, total of 3,256 cases.
  • Vacaville added 24 new cases today, a total of 12,128 cases.
  • Vallejo added 28 new cases today, a total of 13,470 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 0 new cases today, a total of 140 cases.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Solano’s 7-day percent positivity rate was 4.5% today, down from Friday’s 4.8%.  COMPARE: Today’s California rate is 1.9%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking Center]  Today’s U.S. rate is 5.55%. [Source: CDC COVID Data Tracker.] 

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations were down today from 35 to 34 persons, but still far 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 updated its age and race hospitalizations charts today for the first time since October 15.  Total COVID hospitalizations in Solano increased by 152 in the past 25 days, just over 6 new hospitalizations every day.  Solano hospitals have admitted a TOTAL of 2,990 COVID patients since the beginning of the outbreak.  (Data on age is more reliable than that on race/ethnicity.)

ICU Bed Availability is 35% today, up from 30% on Friday, moving into the GREEN zone.  We remain in the worrisome range we saw during last winter’s surge.

Ventilator Availability today rose from 67% to 69%.

ALERT! Benicia’s mask mandate may be weakened by City Council on Nov 16

On Tuesday, October 19, Benicia City Council reviewed our CDC-defined 7-day community transmission rate for September-October, which has yet to dip below the SUBSTANTIAL level.  Because of this poor data and according to City Resolution 21-88, Council left in place Benicia’s citywide indoors mask mandate for now.  The mandate 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.  On Oct. 19, Councilmember Largaespada convinced other Councilmembers and staff to bring consideration of amending the mandate back to Council on November 16.  Largaespada suggested amendments that could weaken the mandate with various exceptions, possibly including no indoor mask requirements in restaurants, bars and gyms.  Largaespada would “Limit the mask mandate to the most essential businesses in town.”  He added that groceries, pharmacies, banks and City Hall might be considered essential.

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

ALERT – Elizabeth Patterson on California redistricting – PLEASE SEND COMMENTS!

EL PAT’S FORUM

by ELIZABETH PATTERSON
Benicia, California

Elizabeth Patterson, Mayor of Benicia CA, 2007-2021

Below is an important message. We have been represented for at least ten years by our North Bay Congress member [Mike Thompson]. The Citizens Redistricting Commission is proposing to split us from Napa and Solano and put Benicia and Vallejo in Contra Costa. A few things to consider: 1) SR 37 needs lots of help from the feds. It is the main connector for Vallejo and Benicia to Sonoma and Marin. This is a North Bay transportation issue and the Solano Transportation Authority is part of the North Bay Policy Group. 2) We manage water supply in collaboration with Napa and American Canyon – and are members of the North Bay Watershed Association. We are North Bay water folks. 3) And finally, we have access to offices and events in the North Bay and don’t have to pay a toll to do so. A Contra Costa congressional district means a toll crossing for all major events and meetings.

It is very easy to call or submit a written comment. The Commission is meeting SUNDAY NOV 7 AND MONDAY NOV 8.  See links below.

******

Greetings,

The California Citizens Redistricting Commission has posted the visualizations that will be discussed for the November 7-9, 2021 meetings. Review them and let us know if we are heading in the right direction.

Over the past months, Commissioners received numerous Communities of Interest and public input that informed the visualizations being discussed at these meetings. Visualizations show hypothetical district-based boundaries for limited geographic areas from the line drawers in response to preliminary direction from the Commission and were created to allow Commissioners to review potential options.

This week’s visualizations will become the draft maps that are scheduled to be released November 10th.

View Visualizations

Comment on Visualizations

Map Viewer

The Commission has developed a district viewer that allows you to more easily navigate visualizations and zoom in and out of geographic areas while layering congressional, State Senate and Assembly boundaries.

Please click here to use the district viewer tool.

Other Ways to Participate

California Citizens Redistricting Commission
http://www.wedrawthelinesca.org/
CA Citizens Redistricting Commission · 721 Capitol Mall, Suite 260, Sacramento, CA 95814, United States

You can also keep up with California Citizens Redistricting Commission on Twitter or Facebook.

Solano County expands COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to individuals age 5-11; widely available throughout County

[Editor: For appointments, see NorthBay Healthcare Center for Primary Care Pediatric Covid-19 Vaccine,  OR  Sutter  Health COVID-19 Vaccine Resources – R.S.]FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 5, 2021

News Contacts:
Matthew Davis, Sr. Management Analyst and Public Communications Officer (707) 784-6111 | MADavis@SolanoCounty.com (AND)
Jayleen Richards, Public Health Administrator 707-784-8616 | JMRichards@SolanoCounty.com

Solano County expands COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to individuals age 5-11; widely available throughout County

SOLANO COUNTY — Solano County is expanding vaccine eligibility to individuals living or attending school in Solano County who are ages 5-11, in accordance with state and national guidance to expand eligibility to this age group.

The Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup unanimously concluded that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is safe and effective for youth ages 5-11, following the Emergency Use Authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration and the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Parents who are interested in getting their child vaccinated can access the Pfizer pediatric doses at several locations throughout the County, including pharmacies, healthcare providers and County-hosted vaccine clinic events.

“We are pleased to expand eligibility to all community members age 5 and older in Solano County,” said Bela T. Matyas, M.D., M.P.H., Solano County Health Officer. “Getting children in this age group vaccinated helps keep them at school and reduces the risk they stay home, away from school after being exposed to someone with COVID-19.”

Starting Wednesday, November 10, 2021, the mass vaccination clinic at the Solano County Fairgrounds, located at 900 Fairgrounds Drive in Vallejo, will begin administering the pediatric COVID-19 vaccine to individual age 5 and older, in addition to providing initial and additional doses to all other eligible community members. The mass vaccination clinic operates Wednesday – Saturday from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Mass vaccination clinics are operational now through the middle of December, with a closure the week of November 24-27 for the Thanksgiving holiday.

REGISTERING FOR THE COVID-19 VACCINE
To make an appointment at the vaccination clinic, eligible residents can sign up online for each family member at https://bit.ly/solanomassvax. Those requiring registration assistance can call (800) 672-0150.

COVID-19 INFORMATION

◼ Homebound individuals interested in requesting an in-home vaccination appointment are encouraged to call the COVID-19 vaccine line at (707) 784-8655 for scheduling assistance.
◼ Residents without transportation to and from vaccine sites hosted by Solano County are urged to call the COVID-19 vaccine line at (707) 784-8655 and arrange for a free ride through Uber
◼ For upcoming vaccine clinics in Solano County, visit www.solanocounty.com/covidvaccine
◼ For vaccine clinics available throughout the State, visit www.myturn.ca.gov or www.vaccines.gov
◼ For the most recent local COVID-19 health information, including the number of COVID-19 cases in Solano County as reflected on the COVID-19 dashboard, visit www.SolanoCounty.com/COVID19 and on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/SolanoCountyPH (@SolanoCountyPH).

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For safe and healthy communities…