Benicia CA, Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Coronavirus, Covid 19, Delta variant, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine

Solano County COVID update: 3 more dead, 517 new cases, community transmission unchecked

By Roger Straw, Friday, September 3, 2021

Friday, September 3: Solano reports 3 COVID deaths again today, and 517 new infections, community transmission rate at 5 times CDC’s HIGH level

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

DEATHS: 3 new deaths were reported today, a total of 10 this week. Today’s deaths included one of us age 18-49 and two 65+.  Today’s deaths included one Black person one White and one Multirace.  Total Solano deaths over the course of the pandemic rose to 276.

CASES: The County reported  517 new COVID cases in the last two days, 259 per day, still in the range of last winter’s surge.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen 2,238 new cases, FIVE TIMES the CDC’s definition of a HIGH rate of transmission.  Based on Solano County population of 449,432, the CDC would rate us in “SUBSTANTIAL” transmission with only 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 2,238 cases as of today!  [Reference: CDC’s level for “High Community Transmission”.]

YOUTH CASES: Case numbers also show a startling increase in the percentage of new cases among young persons age 0-17, increasing another tenth of a percent today to a new high of 13.8% of total cases.  That doesn’t sound like much until you consider that the percentage of youth cases increased very, very slowly over the course of the pandemic, starting below 6%, and only gradually reaching 12% in mid-April of 2021.  The percentage of youth cases has jumped a full 0.8% since mid-August.

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 1,151 ACTIVE cases is up from Wednesday’s 1,056, and alarmingly up from 212 on July 2, and in the range we experienced during the deadly surge last winter.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Our 7-day average percent positivity rate was 13.9% today, up slightly from 13.8% on Wednesday, and nearly 4 times today’s California rate of 3.6% and over 1.25 times today’s U.S. rate of 10.5%. [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 today from 127 to 123 persons, but still in the range we saw during the winter surge.

ICU Bed Availability showed only 20% of ICU beds available today, in the yellow danger zone.  This was up from Wednesday’s 16%, but we’ve not seen rates this low since January 2021.

Ventilator Availability was down today from 51% to 44%, our lowest level since January 28, 2021 and the first time we’ve tipped below 50% since Jan. 29.

TOTAL hospitalizations  The County’s Monday-Friday dashboard shows an intake/discharge total of CURRENTLY hospitalized cases (above), but never reports on the TOTAL hospitalized over the course of the pandemic.  That total must be independently discovered in the County’s occasional update of the Hospitalizations by Age Group chart.  The County did not update its Hospitalizations charts today, so our TOTAL hospitalized since the outbreak started at 2,107. 

FACE MASKS… Good News in Benicia

GOOD NEWS!  Last week, Benicia City Council passed a citywide indoors mask mandate. The Council heard opposition from Dr. Bela Matyas, and support from Dr. Bonnie Hamilton.  The public spoke almost entirely in favor of a mandate and included a number of medical professionals.  Councilmembers debated on various finer points, and passed the resolution on a 5-0 vote. The mandate went into effect immediately. Everyone 4 years old and up must now wear a mask indoors in public places, even those of us who are vaccinated.  The mask resolution, press release, and a flyer now appear on the City website.

Benicia was the first Solano city to take action despite the County’s lack of strong guidance on masks.  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.  Hopefully, Dr. Matyas will learn from Benicia and Vallejo, and make the necessary difficult decisions, but all reports are that he intends not to do so. 

Please mask indoors in public places now, and maybe even indoors in crowded gatherings at home with vaccinated family and friends!  PLEASE talk to anyone you know who isn’t vaccinated.  This thing ain’t over yet!

Cases by City on Friday, September 3:
  • Benicia added 26 new cases today, a total of 1,345 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia is nearly 4 times the CDC’s definition of HIGH community transmission level (based on Benicia population).  For details see Benicia far exceeding CDC’s measure of HIGH TRANSMISSION of COVID-19.  [Note that Solano County itself is rated in high transmission, and Solano’s 6 other cities are likely also individually experiencing high transmission.]
  • Dixon added 27 new cases today, total of 2,337 cases.
  • Fairfield added 156 new cases today, total of 11,382 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 8 new cases today, total of 526 cases.
  • Suisun City added 34 new cases today, total of 2,955 cases.
  • Vacaville added 131 new cases today, a total of 11,023 cases.
  • Vallejo added 133 new cases today, a total of 12,337 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 2 new cases today, a total of 133 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 today’s 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