Benicia drops into CDC’s MODERATE level of COVID transmission for first time since July 16

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

By Roger Straw, Wednesday, October 27, 2021  [Note: Benicia City Council may weaken mask mandate on Nov. 16 – click to scroll down.  – R.S.]

Wednesday, October 27: Solano County reports 56 new infections, remains in SUBSTANTIAL rate of transmission.  Benicia now in MODERATE transmission, first time since July 16.

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

DEATHS: Solano reported no new COVID-related deaths today.  The County has reported 45 COVID deaths since Sept 1.  A total of 315 Solano residents have died of COVID or COVID-related causes over the course of the pandemic.

CASES: The County reported 56 new COVID cases since Monday, 28 per day.  AGES: 10 of these 56 cases were youth and children under 18.  24 were age 18-49, 10 were age 50-64, and 12 were 65+.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen SUBSTANTIAL community transmission, with 250 new cases.  Good news is that this is trending down from 451 (HIGH transmission) on October 6.  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 308 ACTIVE cases is down from Monday’s 323, but still far above our summer rates.

CASES BY CITY on Wednesday, October 27:

    • Benicia added only 1 new case today, a total of 1,523 cases since the outbreak began.  TRANSMISSION RATE: MODERATE, for the first time since July 16!  Benicia has seen only 7 new cases over the last 7 days, well under the CDC’s definition of SUBSTANTIAL community transmission (MODERATE is defined as fewer than 14 cases, based on Benicia population – SEE CHART BELOW).  Benicia will need to maintain this rate for 30 days before relaxing the mask mandate.  [Note above that Solano County is currently experiencing SUBSTANTIAL transmission.

    • Dixon added 2 new cases today, total of 2,533 cases.
    • Fairfield added 14 new cases today, total of 12,212 cases.
    • Rio Vista reported at 4 new cases today, total of 607 cases.
    • Suisun City added 7 new cases today, total of 3,230 cases.
    • Vacaville added 13 new cases today, a total of 11,963 cases.
    • Vallejo added 15 new cases today, a total of 13,351 cases.
    • Unincorporated added 0 new cases today, a total of 140 cases.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Solano’s 7-day percent positivity rate was 4.1% today, down from Monday’s 4.5%.  COMPARE: Today’s California rate is 1.8%[Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking CenterToday’s U.S. rate is 5.8%. [Source: CDC COVID Data Tracker.]

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations were down slightly today from 36 to 33 persons, but still far above the range we saw during last summer.

ICU Bed Availability is at 30% today, down from 39% on Monday, back in the YELLOW danger zone.  We remain in the worrisome range we saw during last winter’s surge.

Ventilator Availability today remains at 70%.

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.  Total COVID hospitalizations in Solano remain at 2,838 since the beginning of the outbreak.

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

Early release of – POSSIBLE – new California redistricting maps – all new lines for Benicia

Possible new alignments and their probable representatives for Benicia

By Roger Straw, October 26, 2021
[UPDATE: See the San Francisco Chronicle, Bay Area’s congressional districts look wildly different in first glimpse of new maps. Oct. 27]

Today we discovered an early release of what I understand COULD BE the final redistricting maps for California – from the We Draw The Lines website, https://www.wedrawthelinesca.org/

BREAKING NEWS – Benicia would be in ALL new districts with new representatives!

Handouts for the whole state (links go to We Draw The Lines)
About Benicia in these visualizations…

I’m far from expert on this, but here’s my best interpretation of what I found in the visualizations –

BENICIA’S U.S. CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Page 12 from Visualization Slides CD VCD_NORTHCON_1027 (click to enlarge)

Benicia  would be in a new US Congressional district, with DeSaulnier.  Download: Page 12 from Visualization Slides CD VCD_NORTHCON_1027.pdf

    • Vallejo, Benicia, Crocket, Port Costa, Martinez, Vine Hill, Pacheco, Clyde, Concord, Mountain View, Pleasant Hill, Reliez Valley, Contra Costa Centre, Kensington, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Clayton, Acalanes Ridge, Saranap, Oakland East of Park Ridge

BENICIA’S CALIFORNIA ASSEMBLY DISTRICT

Page 17 from AD Visualization Slides VAD_SOLANO_1027 (Click to enlarge)

Benicia would also be in a different CA Assembly District, possibly with Cecilia Aguiar-Curry.  Download, Page 17 from AD Visualization Slides VAD_SOLANO_1027.pdf

    • Solano County except for Vallejo for population
    • Winters, El Macero, Clarksburg
    • Freeport, Hood, Courtland, Walnut Grove, Isleton, and Delta Area

BENICIA’S CALIFORNIA SENATE DISTRICT

Page 12 from SD Visualization Slides VSD_NAPABYRON_1027 (Click to enlarge)

I’m unclear who our CA Senator would be in what seems to me a rather weird new district, maybe still Dodd.  Download: Page 12 from SD Visualization Slides VSD_NAPABYRON_1027.pdf

    • Lake County, Napa County, Solano County
    • Walnut Grove, Isleton, and delta area
    • Bay Point, Pittsburg, Antioch, Oakley, Knightsen, Bethel Island, Brentwood, Discovery Bay, Byron

VIDEO: Activists Claim Benicia Polluter Repeatedly Put Toxic ‘Pet Coke’ in San Francisco Bay

SF Bay Area original report with comments by longtime Benicia activist Marilyn Bardet and SF Baykeeper investigator Cole Burchiel


KPIX CBS SF Bay Area, October 25, 2021

Andria Borba reports on activists accusing port in Benicia of spewing “petroleum coke” into San Francisco Bay (10-25-2021)

Benicia’s close calls during the historic October 24 flooding

Mayor Young: City Staff worked through the night to save Benicia from even more drastic flood impacts

Nextdoor and Facebook, by Benicia Mayor Steve Young, October 25, 2021
Benicia Mayor Steve Young

The historic storm yesterday saw the City staff make a number of critical decisions that saved the possible failure of an aging lift station in the Industrial Park. Had that station failed, significant amounts of raw sewage would have been released into the Strait and the City would likely have faced very large fines. Besides the quick and decisive action by the Public Works Utility staff, a huge thank you to Ponder Environmental for loaning the City some large tanks to help out when most needed.

In addition, the huge amount of water flowing into Lake Herman threatened to reach the spillway in an uncontrolled release, which could have caused flooding into the Industrial Park and elsewhere. The decision was made to fully open the release valve and divert the water into Sulphur Springs creek. By doing so, we were able to release water as fast as it was coming in.

We all owe our gratitude to the City workers, including Fire and Police, who worked through the night to protect our community.

For safe and healthy communities…