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Solano and Benicia: Massive COVID increases, five new deaths, new record for current hospitalizations

NOTE: The information below is not the latest.  TAP HERE for today’s latest information.
[BenIndy editor: Following last Friday’s obvious undercount, today’s Solano County numbers are surely playing catch-up.  A Monday report would normally represent a 3-day increase, but today for the most part it represents a 5-day increase.  – R.S.]

January 24, 2022 SUMMARY: Solano County reported a massive increase in cases today, along with some previously unreported hospitalizations and 5 COVID-related deaths.  The County reported 4,091 new infections today, 8,517 in the last week.  Benicia has seen 358 new cases over the last 7 days.  Omicron is everywhere!

Solano Public Health COVID dashboard, Monday, January 24:

DEATHS: Solano reported 5 new deaths today, one age 50-64 and 4 age 65+.  Trending: The County reported 27 COVID deaths in September, 18 in October, 14 in November, 22 in December, and 24 already in January (60 of us have died over 70 days since the uptick beginning on November 15).  A total of 375 Solano residents have now died of COVID or COVID-related causes over the course of the pandemic.

CASES BY AGE GROUP: The County reported 4,091 new COVID cases today.  859 of these 4,091 new cases were youth and children under 18, or 21% of the total.  The majority, 2,197 cases (54%) were age 18-49.  658 cases (16%) were age 50-64, and 375 (9%) were 65+.  BELOW: color-coded chart shows CASES SINCE THE OUTBREAK BEGAN BY AGE GROUP, each as a percentage of TOTAL CASES SINCE THE OUTBREAK BEGAN.  Increases are in red and decreases are in green as reported by Solano County since April of 2020.  Note the continuing increase among children & youth of Solano County.  The population of those age 0-17 in Solano County is roughly 22%.COMPARE – U.S. cases among children and youth aged 0-17 as percentage of total cases is 16.8% as of today, up dramatically from 15.9% on Friday.  (From the CDC covid-data-tracker.)

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Solano has risen dramatically and almost daily since December 27 into an EXTREMELY HIGH transmission rate, with a total of 8,517 new cases over the last 7 days, up from around 500 at Christmastime, just a month ago.  CDC FORMULA: Based on Solano County’s population, 450 or more cases in 7 days places Solano in the CDC’s population-based definition of a HIGH transmission rate.  We would need to drop below 225 cases in 7 days to rate as having only MODERATE community transmission.

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 5,292 ACTIVE cases is up from around 2,000 at the New Year and only 329 on December 1.

CASES BY CITY – Monday, January 24:

  • Benicia added 142 new cases today, a total of 2,650 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia has seen 358 new infections in the last 7 days, far above the CDC’s HIGH rate of community transmission. (For a city with Benicia’s population, anything over 27 cases in 7 days is considered HIGH TRANSMISSION). The Benicia City Council is considering adding multiple metrics besides the CDC’s 7-day case count (see Benicia Chooses to Continue Mask Mandate, 1/19/22).  Note above that Solano County is currently also experiencing EXTREMELY HIGH transmission.
  • Dixon added 203 new case today, total of 3,646 cases.
  • Fairfield added 982 new cases today, total of 17,810 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 45 new case today, total of 914 cases.
  • Suisun City added 302 new cases today, total of 4,723 cases.
  • Vacaville added 1,031 new cases today, a total of 16,717 cases.
  • Vallejo added 1,381 new cases today, a total of 21,691 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 5 new cases today, a total of 177 cases.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Solano County’s 7-Day Percent Positive Test Rate shot up after Christmas and has continued through today’s incredibly high 31%.  COMPARE: Today the California 7-day % positive rate rose today to 16.4%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking Center]  The U.S. 7-day % positive rate rose today to 26.69%. [Source: CDC COVID Data Tracker.] 

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations fell slightly today from 163 to 162 persons.  Currently hospitalized persons in Solano peaked at 207 this past Saturday, Jan 22, higher than ever before. (See below, and note that previous high was 176 on Jan 7, 2021.)

Solano County Public Health COVID Dashboard, Jan 24, 2022

TOTAL hospitalizations – Today’s age chart shows 5 previously unreported hospitalizations, one age 50-64 and four age 65+.  Our total since the beginning of the outbreak is now 3,436 hospitalizations.   (Data on age is more reliable than that on race/ethnicity.)

ICU Bed Availability in Solano County took a dramatic tumble today, falling from 26% at last report to only 15% available today, in the Yellow danger zone.

Ventilator Availability  fell shockingly today from 61% to only 50%, our lowest rate since Oct 13, 2021. 

HOW DOES TODAY’S REPORT COMPARE?  See recent reports and others going back to April 20, 2020 in 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.

See also my BENINDY ARCHIVE of daily Solano COVID updates (an excel spreadsheet).  I have also archived the hundreds of full CORONAVIRUS REPORTS posted here almost daily on the Benicia Independent since April 2020.

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