#wearamask, Benicia CA, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Delta variant, Face coverings, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine

Seven new COVID deaths reported in Solano County, Benicia’s 7-day transmission rate is HIGH

NOTE: This information is archived.  Click HERE for today’s latest information
By Roger Straw, Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Wednesday, October 13: Solano County reports 7 new deaths and 207 new infections, remains in the CDC’s SUBSTANTIAL transmission rate.  Benicia sees 24 new cases, still in HIGH transmission rate.

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

DEATHS: Solano reported 7 new COVID-related deaths today, 2 age 50-64 and 5 age 65+; including 1 each Black and White, and 2 each Hispanic and Multi-race.  The County has reported 42 COVID deaths just since Sept 1.  A total of 312 Solano residents have died of COVID or COVID-related causes over the course of the pandemic.

CASES: The County reported 207 new COVID cases over the holiday weekend, 41 per day.  AGES: 40 of these 207 cases (19%) were youth and children under 18.  48% were age 18-49, 21% were age 50-64, and only 11% were 65+.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen 413 new cases, up from 375  on last Friday.  This increase isn’t enough to move Solano up into the CDC’s population-based definition of a HIGH transmission rate, but it’s not far off.  Solano remains in SUBSTANTIAL transmission rate.

(CDC FORMULA: 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.  Reference: CDC’s “Level of SARS-CoV-2 Community Transmission”.]

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 396 ACTIVE cases is down from last Friday’s 486, but still far above our summer rates.

CASES BY CITY on Wednesday, October 13:

    • Benicia added 24 new cases today, a total of 1,491 cases since the outbreak began.  Although Benicia’s population is only 6.2% of Solano’s total, today’s 24 new Benicia cases are nearly double that (11.6%) as a percentage of today’s 207 new cases.  Benicia has seen 31 new cases over the last 7 days, continuing in the CDC’s definition of HIGH community transmission (defined as 28 or more cases, based on Benicia population – SEE CHART BELOW).  [Note that Solano County is at a level of SUBSTANTIAL transmission, and Solano’s 6 other cities (below) are likely also individually experiencing high or substantial transmission.]

    • Dixon added 11 new cases today, total of 2,510 cases.
    • Fairfield added 49 new cases today, total of 12,072 cases.
    • Rio Vista added 9 new cases today, total of 591 cases.
    • Suisun City added 14 new cases today, total of 3,190 cases.
    • Vacaville added 49 new cases today, a total of 11,834 cases.
    • Vallejo added 51 new cases today, a total of 13,208 cases.
    • Unincorporated added 0 new cases today, a total of 139 cases (population figures not available).

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Solano’s 7-day average percent positivity rate was 7.2% today, up substantially from last Friday’s 5.8%.  COMPARE: today’s California rate is 1.7% and today’s U.S. rate is 5.8%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking Center]

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations were down today from 52 to 37 persons, our lowest number since July 23.  Good news!

ICU Bed Availability is up sharply today, from an alarmingly low 12% last Friday to 27% today, but still in the yellow danger zone.  We remain in the worrisome range we saw during last winter’s surge.

Ventilator Availability is down slightly today from 51% to 46%, still in the range of last winter’s surge.

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 updated its Hospitalizations charts today.  See below.  The differing race/ethnicity numbers indicate a number of persons whose race/ethnicity was not given or recorded.

FACE MASKS… Required for all in Benicia and Vallejo

Benicia City Council passed a citywide indoors mask mandate that 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.  Benicia was joined by Vallejo 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.  Last week’s 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
Police culture, Police Decertification Act of 2021, Police misconduct, Police reform, Police unions, Police violence, Vallejo Police

California joins 46 other states, can now decertify bad cops

Open Letter: Holding Police Accountable, particularly in Vallejo

Vallejo Times-Herald, by Susan George, October 8, 2021

On Sept. 30, California joined 46 other states with the legal means to decertify bad cops, those who engage in serious misconduct. Thanks to the hard work of state Sen. Steven Bradford, Gov. Newsom signed Senate Bill 2, the Kenneth Ross, Jr. Police Decertification Act of 2021.

While important for California, this legislation is particularly meaningful for Vallejo, where 19 — mostly young Black and Brown men — have been killed by Vallejo police since 2010. This is one of the highest rates in the country. Fourteen officers — aptly named “the fatal 14” — have been involved in multiple killings with no consequences. They leave behind the devastating loss of their victims’ family members and civil rights settlements for their misconduct paid out by the city, totaling some of the highest in the nation.

Elected Vallejo Assembly District 14 delegates Brenda Crawford, Susan George, Ruscal Cayangyang, Susannah Delano and Thomas Bilbo successfully joined forces with all Region 2 delegates last March to ensure that SB 2 was formally endorsed by the California Democratic Party. Assembly Member Timothy Grayson and Sen. Bill Dodd both signed off on the bill.

This legislation is an important step in holding Vallejo police accountable, but ongoing community action and proper enforcement will be critical to any lasting change.

— Susan George/Vallejo

Benicia City Manager Erik Upson, Benicia city staff, City of Benicia, Mandatory face coverings, Vaccine, Vaccine mandate

City of Benicia now requires vaccination (or weekly tests & masking) of all City staff

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER: City of Benicia This Week

Message from the City Manager, Erik Upson
October 11, 2021

Hello Everyone,

City of Benicia Personnel Policy #44 will take effect today. This policy requires vaccination of City staff. Those not vaccinated will be required to be tested weekly and wear a mask while indoors at City facilities as well as following all applicable State, County and Local guidelines regarding the wearing of masks.

We did not step into this lightly, but felt it was needed to help protect the safety of our staff and our community. I know some will feel this policy does not go far enough. And some will feel it is a governmental overreach. As always, we are trying to do our very best to balance very real public health concerns with the very real concerns about personal freedoms. Bottom line is we want to do what is best for our community and our staff in this difficult and ever-changing pandemic response.

I want to take a moment to thank our labor groups and their representatives as well as Kim Imboden, our Human Resources Manager, and Fire Chief Josh Chadwick for their work on this. From the very beginning our labor representatives took a positive, thoughtful, and collaborative approach to this very delicate issue.

We continue to look for ways to advance the health of our community. We are currently working with the County in hopes that we will be at the forefront of providing booster shots as those become necessary and more widely available. Additionally, it is our hope when the Pfizer vaccine becomes available for children ages 5-11, we will be able to partner with the County and the School District to help provide those shots at a local clinic. Finally, the Fire Chief is working with the County in hopes of providing drive-through flu clinics here in Benicia later this year.

On a very positive note, I would like to point out that the Benicia Dog Festival will be happening on Sunday, October 17 at the First Street Green. The opening ceremony is scheduled for 11 a.m. This festival has been a long time in the works, and I want to give thanks to the event’s founder Gaul Culley for her patience, thoughtfulness, and, yes, stubbornness, as she worked to make this event happen. Benicia is a very dog-friendly community, and this event will be a fantastic opportunity to get out and connect. Please see their website for more information (https://beniciadogfestival.com/).

Thank you for your interest in the City of Benicia This Week!

Erik Upson
City Manager
CityofBeniciaThisWeek@ci.benicia.ca.us

#wearamask, Benicia CA, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Delta variant, Face coverings, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine

Solano falls today into CDC’s “Substantial” COVID transmission range, Benicia remains in “High” range

By Roger Straw, Friday, October 8, 2021

Friday, October 8: Solano County reports 124 new infections, drops from HIGH to SUBSTANTIAL transmission rate.  Benicia remains just barely in HIGH transmission rate.

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

DEATHS: Solano reported no new COVID-related deaths today.  But the County reported 39 COVID deaths over the last 39 days (from August 30).  A total of 305 Solano residents have died of COVID or COVID-related causes over the course of the pandemic.

CASES: The County reported 124 new COVID cases over the last two days, 62 per day.  AGES: 18 of these 124 cases (15%) were youth and children under 18.  52% were age 18-49, 16% were age 50-64, and 18% were 65+.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen 375 new cases, down from 451  on Wednesday and 639 on Monday.  This good news drops Solano into the CDC’s population-based definition of a SUBSTANTIAL transmission rate for only the 2nd time since July 21.

(CDC FORMULA: 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.  Reference: CDC’s “Level of SARS-CoV-2 Community Transmission”.]

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 486 ACTIVE cases is up from Wednesday’s 467, and still far above our summer rates.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Solano’s 7-day average percent positivity rate was only 5.8% today, down from Wednesday’s 6.2%.  COMPARE: today’s California rate is 2.1% and today’s U.S. rate is 6.3%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking Center]

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations were up today from 50 to 52 persons, and still in the range we saw during the winter surge.

ICU Bed Availability is down sharply today, from 29% to an alarming 12%, barely above the red warning zone.  We saw rates this low once in September and twice in August – and before that, not since January.  Again, we are in the worrisome range we saw during the winter surge.

Ventilator Availability is up slightly today from 49% to 51%, but still in the range of last winter’s surge.

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 updated its Hospitalizations charts today.  See below.  The differing race/ethnicity numbers indicate a number of persons whose race/ethnicity was not given or recorded.

FACE MASKS… Required for all in Benicia and Vallejo

Benicia City Council passed a citywide indoors mask mandate that 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.  Benicia was joined by Vallejo 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.  Today’s Bay Area news put Solano in a sad light: all other counties’ health officers issued a 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.

Cases by City on Friday, October 8:
    • Benicia added 7 new cases today, a total of 1,467 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia has seen 28 new cases over the last 7 days, continuing (just barely) in the CDC’s definition of HIGH community transmission (defined as 28 or more cases, based on Benicia population – SEE CHART BELOW).  [Note that Solano County is at a level of HIGH transmission, and Solano’s 6 other cities are likely also individually experiencing high or substantial transmission.]

    • Dixon added 6 new cases today, total of 2,499 cases.
    • Fairfield added 29 new cases today, total of 12,023 cases.
    • Rio Vista added 6 new cases today, total of 582 cases.
    • Suisun City added 6 new cases today, total of 3,176 cases.
    • Vacaville added 36 new cases today, a total of 11,785 cases.
    • Vallejo added 34 new cases today, a total of 13,157 cases.
    • Unincorporated added 0 new cases today, a total of 139 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

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