Drive-Through Coronavirus Testing starts today for some in Solano County

Update on Drive-Through Testing in Solano County

The Solano County drive-thru COVID-19 testing site is now expanding appointments to include essential employees who are currently ill and whose symptoms are consistent with COVID-19 (including fever, cough, chills, and body aches). Individuals must also live and/or work in Solano County. Testing is not available for those who do not have COVID-19 symptoms at this time.

Essential employees include, but are not limited to, employees in the following settings:

  • Grocery stores, food banks, restaurants, and food delivery
  • Gas stations and auto-repair facilities
  • Transportation providers
  • Childcare facilities
  • Water, sewer, solid waste, gas, and electrical operations
  • Mailing and shipping services
  • Banks
  • Hardware stores, warehouses, and distribution centers
  • Construction
  • Laundry service
  • Telecommunications, internet, and media services

Testing is by appointment only and a valid ID or verification of ID is needed. You can call 707.784.8655 to make an appointment, please do not leave a message. The phone line is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. until all appointment slots are filled. There is no cost for this testing. Testing consists of a self-administered nasal swab, and results can be expected in 1-3 days.

This testing site also continues to remain open to healthcare workers and first responders who are ill (by appointment only).

Bernie Sanders’ concession speech – inspiring call for an ongoing movement and Democratic unity

By Roger Straw, April 8, 2020

Today, Bernie Sanders showed himself once again a visionary for the United States of America.  His concession speech was fullsome, personal and a powerful call to the nation, that we might pull together to defeat the most dangerous US president in modern history.  Here is his inspiring speech, in full.
Watch A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM BERNIE (11:45AM ET) from Bernie_Sanders on www.twitch.tv

Bernie Sanders out – Joe Biden presumptive nominee

See also Bernie Sanders’ concession speech – inspiring call for an ongoing movement and Democratic unity

Bernie Sanders drops out of presidential race

Image: Sen. Bernie Sanders arrives for the Polk County Steak Fry in Des Moines, Iowa, on Sept. 21, 2019.
Sen. Bernie Sanders arrives for the Polk County Steak Fry in Des Moines, Iowa, on Sept. 21, 2019. Daniel Acker / Bloomberg via Getty Images file
by Jane C. Timm & Allan Smith,

Bernie Sanders is ending his presidential campaign, he announced on Wednesday.

The Vermont independent senator’s 2020 bid started off strong. He narrowly missed first place in Iowa before picking up wins in New Hampshire and Nevada. All the while, his campaign continued to rake in millions in small-dollar donations and pack rallies full of supporters as he ascended to national front-runner status amid a crowded Democratic field.

Running as a progressive insurgent against Hillary Clinton in 2016, Sanders popularized ideas like “Medicare for All.” In 2020, however, a number of candidates backed similar policies, and he faced another prominent progressive in Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who was the first to propose canceling some student debt in April.

Sanders followed with a more far-reaching plan of his own in June. Warren surged above Sanders in the fall, right up until he suffered a heart attack in October. That — along with the high-profile endorsement by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., — revived his national polling numbers, and he remained in second place until Biden’s dismal fourth-place showing in Iowa, which propelled Sanders to front-runner status.

In his 2020 bid, the senator worked to broaden his support with Latino voters, and his coalition grew more diverse because of it. But despite years of outreach to increase his popularity among black voters, Sanders failed to earn their votes in large numbers. He also lost some of his white working-class supporters to Biden, a fracture of his coalition that cost him crucial votes in states like Michigan.

Sanders also stumbled with women voters, facing accusations of sexism in January after tensions between his and Warren’s campaigns spilled out into the open. The two progressives had largely remained allies while campaigning for the nomination, but a series of leaks to the media from aides and supporters of both senators accusing the other camp of dirty tricks and lying culminated in Warren saying in a statement that Sanders once told her he didn’t think a woman could win the presidency.

Sanders denied the claim, but he was hit with further criticism of his supporters — dubbed the “Bernie Bros” — after female union leaders in Nevada who spoke out against his candidacy said they were attacked by his fans.

His campaign officially stalled in South Carolina. Fueled by a crucial endorsement from Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., Biden won the Palmetto State decisively. The moderate wing of the party then consolidated around him — Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg both dropped out of the race and endorsed him — and Biden won 10 of 14 states on Super Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Warren dropped out of the race after Super Tuesday, but declined to endorse any candidate.

A week later, on March 10, Biden dominated in five of the six states that voted, including Michigan, one of Sanders’ biggest 2016 victories, to grow his delegate lead over the Vermont senator. Sanders’ substantial losses in Florida, Illinois and Arizona on March 17 put Biden on an insurmountable path to the Democratic nomination.

A day after those contests, and with the next voting night weeks away, Sanders’ campaign manager Faiz Shakir wrote that the candidate was “going to be having conversations with supporters to assess his campaign. In the immediate term, however, he is focused on the government response to the coronavirus outbreak and ensuring that we take care of working people and the most vulnerable.”

In a message to supporters, Shakir was more pointed.

“No sugarcoating it, last night did not go the way we wanted,” he said of the March 17 losses. “And while our campaign has won the battle of ideas, we are losing the battle over electability to Joe Biden.”

COVID-19 deaths in California expected to peak on April 17

The model for California predicts that COVID-19 deaths per day will peak on April 17

Vallejo Times-Herald, April 7, 2020
The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, an independent research center at the University of Washington, has released COVID-19 projections for all 50 states and for nations around the world.

The models predict “extent and timing of deaths and excess demand for hospital services due to COVID-19,” the institute says.

The model for California, as of April 7, predicted that COVID-19 deaths per day would peak on April 17. Projections assume “full social distancing” through May.

The pulldown box at the top of the graphic allows selection of other states and nations.

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