[BenIndy editor: For updated results check out Solano County Registrar of Voter’s Sept 14 election results here. As of Thursday Sept 16, breakdown results by City and precinct are not yet available. 12,500 to 23,000 ballots are received but not yet processed, mostly vote-by-mail ballots. Unofficial results as of Sept 16 show 2/3 voting NO by mail and 2/3 of a much smaller number voting YES on election day. As of today, 111,000+ voted by mail, and only 15,000+ voted on election day. – R. S.]
Solano was the Bay Area county most receptive to the Newsom recall
A sign against the recall is posted behind California Gov. Gavin Newsom as he talks with volunteers who are phone banking against the recall at Manny’s on Aug. 13, 2021, in San Francisco. California Gov. Gavin Newsom kicked off his “Say No” to recall campaign as he prepares to face a recall election on Sept. 14. Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesSFGATE, by Joshua Bote, September 15, 2021
The Bay Area overwhelmingly opposed the Gavin Newsom recall, with San Francisco, Marin and Alameda counties all rejecting the recall at a rate of more than 80%.
But while almost every county in the Bay Area is currently reporting more than 70% of voters opposed to the recall, one Bay Area county flirted with the idea of a recall more than any other: Solano County.
With more than 77% of votes tabulated as of Wednesday afternoon, 64.3% of Solano voters rejected the recall, according to data from CNN and the Associated Press. That’s six percentage points less than the Bay Area county with the second-smallest percentage of Newsom supporters, Napa County, where the infamous French Laundry incident that galvanized the recall effort took place.
63.9% of voters in the state voted against the recall.
Historically, Solano has proven to be among the more conservative-leaning of the Bay Area counties. But more interestingly, Solano County’s voting numbers mirror the state overall better than any other county in the Bay Area, and arguably, in the state in general.
In 2020, about 64% of Solano County voters sided with President Joe Biden — nearly the same exact percentage of California’s voters.
Same goes for the 2016 presidential election, when 61% of Solano County voters sided with Hillary Clinton, again nearly identical to the state’s vote total.
So while Solano County may lean more conservative than the rest of the Bay Area, it’s also something of a bellwether county in California — at least for these key elections.
DEATHS: No new deaths today. Total Solano deaths over the course of the pandemic now at 280.
CASES: The County reported 380 new COVID cases over the last two days, quickly back up to 190 per day after Monday’s drop to 50 per day, and well back in the range of last winter’s surge.
CASES BY AGE GROUP:Solano cases are trending upward among younger residents. The percentage of Solano’s cases among our youth 0-17 years of age has increased very slowly over the course of the pandemic, starting below 6%, and only gradually reaching 12% in mid-April of 2021. With today’s new cases alone, the two younger age groups each increased a tenth of a percentage point of total cases. Those age 0-17 now represent 14% of total cases, and those age 18-49 represent 55.4% of total cases. Also note that those age 0-17 accounted for 19% of today’s new cases, nearly equal to their percentage of Solano’s population – this among youth who were much less likely to be infected. Note that Solano youth 0-17 continue to show very few hospitalizations (63 admissions, or 2% of total) and no deaths.
COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen 750 new cases, NEARLY TWICE the CDC’s population-based 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 750 cases as of today! [Reference:CDC’s level for “High Community Transmission”.]
ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 773 ACTIVE cases is up significantly from Monday’s 588, and up alarmingly up from 212 on July 2.
POSITIVE TEST RATE: Our 7-day average percent positivity rate was 10.7% today, down from 9.1% on Monday. COMPARE: today’s California rate is 3.3%.Today’s U.S. rate shot up from 9.7% to 15.0%. [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 slightly today from 93 to 92 persons, but still in the range we saw during the winter surge.
ICU Bed Availabilitywent up today from 17% to 23%, but still in the yellow danger zone. Again, we are still in the range we saw during the winter surge.
Ventilator Availability fell today from 59% to only 49%, in the range of last February’s winter 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 did not update its Hospitalizations charts today. See below. Interestingly, the TOTAL 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 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 even RECOMMENDING masks in public indoors spaces.
SOLANO COUNTY dropped the ball on consideration of a MASK MANDATE. The Solano County Board of Supervisors failed to even consider the proposed MASK MANDATE on Tuesday, September 14. The agenda called for discussion of an indoors mask mandate for all and a vaccination mandate for county workers. Although it was not on the agenda, the Board voted 4-1 to require county-run facilities in Vallejo and Benicia to abide by local mandates. The Board voted down the vaccination mandate 3-2, and failed to even consider the county-wide mask mandate. The Solano Board of Supervisors now joins with Dr. Bela Matyas in officially showing poor leadership on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cases by City on Wednesday, September 15:
Beniciaadded 9 new cases today, a total of 1,378 cases since the outbreak began. Benicia has seen 24 new cases over the last 7 days, remaining just below the CDC’s definitionof HIGH community transmission (based on Benicia population). Benicia is still at the high end of the CDC’s range of SUBSTANTIAL transmission.[Note that Solano County is also rated far above high transmission, and Solano’s 6 other cities are likely also individually experiencing high or substantial transmission.]
Dixon added 17 new cases today, total of 2,403 cases.
Fairfield added 65 new cases today, total of 11,624 cases.
Rio Vista added 5 new cases today, total of 547 cases.
Suisun Cityadded 34 new cases today, total of 3,045 cases.
Vacaville added 136 new cases today, a total of 11,399 cases.
Vallejoadded 114 new cases today, a total of 12,664 cases.
Unincorporatedadded 0 new cases today, a total of 134 cases (population figures not available).
In 4-1 decision, Solano County Board of Supervisors recognize primacy of Vallejo indoors mask mandate
Just yesterday, I highlighted Times-Herald reporter Richard Freedman’s story, “Vallejo libraries immune from mask mandates.”
The news then was that Solano County’s lack of strong leadership on masking indoors would prevail over Vallejo’s mandate because the libraries in Vallejo are run by the County.
But later yesterday morning, our Solano County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to respect local mandates in facilities run by the County. (The Board would not recognize the importance of masking indoors in the rest of the county – they failed to even bring that issue to a vote.) But as of today, if you visit or work in any of Vallejo’s Solano offices, including the Superior Court building and the libraries, you are obligated to follow Vallejo’s mask mandate.
Residents can feel a bit better about entering County buildings in Vallejo now, but you may want to stay away from County facilities in Fairfield and Vacaville. And I want you to know that you’re STILL welcome here in Benicia, where ALL public indoors facilities require masks for workers and visitors alike.
[BenIndy Editor: Note that the Board never even addressed Supervisor Brown’s request for a countywide indoors mask mandate like we established here in Benicia and Vallejo. Benicia and Vallejo are clearly on our own here in Solano County. Concerned up-county residents should consider shopping and doing business down here in Benicia/Vallejo. And Solano employees might want to start looking for a new job! – R.S.]
Divided board won’t mandate vaccines for Solano employees
Solano County Supervisor Erin Hannigan speaks while debating mandated vaccines and masks for Solano County employees during a Board of Supervisors meeting at the Government Center in Fairfield, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021. (Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic)
County workers must adhere to mask policies in communities where they work
FAIRFIELD — Solano County employees will not be required to get Covid-19 vaccinations, but will have to honor mask requirements in city jurisdictions that have them.
Benicia and Vallejo temporarily require everyone – vaccinated or not – to wear a mask in indoor public places. The state has the same mandate for individuals who are not vaccinated.
Masks are required in all medical facilities, and in schools.
Benicia Mayor Steve Young
Benicia Mayor Steve Young was one of 17 individuals who called into the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday. The county also received more than 100 written correspondences, two-thirds of which opposed the policies. The callers were slightly weighted in the other direction.
Young urged the board to enact its own mask mandate, though that issue was never formally up for consideration.
A county mask mandate for public indoor places was expected to be one of two issues considered by the board, but Supervisor Erin Hannigan, who had raised the mask requirement and the county vaccination mandate, backed off the full mask mandate in favor of requiring that county employees adhere to the rules of other jurisdictions.
The new mandate mostly affects county employees who work at county buildings in Vallejo. The board supported the policy on a 4-1 vote with board Chairman John Vasquez dissenting without comment.
The supervisors voted 2-3, with Vasquez, Supervisor Jim Spering and Supervisor Mitch Mashburn in the majority, to defeat Hannigan’s motion to mandate vaccinations for county employees and contractors. Supervisor Monica Brown supported the action.
“The only way we are going to get out of this pandemic is everyone get vaccinated,” Hannigan said.
Those who argued against the vaccines for county employees, also largely argued against the mask requirement, framing the issues as ones of personal freedoms and choice.
Some took great exception to anyone telling them what they must inject into their bodies. Others were less forceful, and even noted they, too, had been vaccinated, but were in no position to tell others what to do, and strongly believe government should stay out of personal medical decisions.
Corianne Tunstall comments as the Solano County Board of Supervisors debate mandated vaccines and masks for Solano County employees during a Board of Supervisors meeting at the Government Center in Fairfield, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021. (Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic)
But Corianne Tunstall, a local hairdresser, said those “personal decisions” do not only affect those individuals, as she is frequently exposed to clients who have not been vaccinated, and who refuse to wear masks even though state law requires them to do so.
She told the board she could not afford to get sick and miss work, and felt it was wrong that others could choose to expose her and she could, in turn, expose her family.
Dr. Seth Kaufman is the chief medical officer for NorthBay Healthcare. (Courtesy photo)
Others who supported the policies included Dr. Seth Kaufman, chief medical officer at NorthBay Healthcare. He called the vaccines and masks critical pieces in the fight against Covid-19.
“We are off the charts on the number of patients we are seeing,” Kaufman said. “Our hospitals are full; our clinics are overflowing with Covid patients.”
The public discussion followed a Covid-19 status update by Dr. Bela Matyas, the county public health officer.
Dr. Bela Matyas, Solano County public health officer
He told the board that the county is emerging from the latest Covid surge that started shortly after July 4, and that includes lower number of individuals being hospitalized.
Matyas reiterated his position that a mask policy will be ineffective because the data show transmission is not taking place in public settings, but rather at private social gatherings and at home. He noted that the vast majority of counties that have mask mandates are not seeing their disease rates fall like they should if the policy worked.
However, he also reiterated his position that the best way to defeat Covid-19 is to get vaccinated.
About 64% of the residents 12 or older have been fully vaccinated, while 76% have received at least one shot. That leaves about 135,000 residents who are eligible for vaccines who have not been innoculated, Matyas said.
Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data Friday that indicate people who are unvaccinated who contract Covid-19 are 11 times more likely to die than are those who are vaccinated.
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