Solano County COVID update – missing data on 102 new infections

NOTE: The information below is not the latest.  CLICK HERE for today’s latest information.

By Roger Straw, Monday, November 1, 2021  [Note: Benicia City Council may weaken mask mandate on Nov. 16 – click here to scroll down.  – R.S.]

Monday, November 1: Solano County reports 102 new infections over the weekend, remains in SUBSTANTIAL rate of transmission.  City, age and race data missing from today’s Solano Public Health update.

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

DEATHS: Solano reported no new COVID-related deaths today.  The County reported 27 COVID deaths in September, 18 in October.  A total of 315 Solano residents have died of COVID or COVID-related causes over the course of the pandemic.

CASES: The County reported 102 new COVID cases since Friday.  Normally, the County reports age and race data on these new cases, but the numbers were not updated today.
…LATER INFO FROM SOLANO PUBLIC HEALTH via email:

Age Group Number %*
0-17 yrs 6584 14.4
18-49 yrs 25211 55
50-64 yrs 8861 19.3
65+ yrs 5155 11.2
TOTAL: 45824

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen SUBSTANTIAL community transmission, with 321 new cases (down from 324 on Friday).  CDC FORMULA: Based on Solano County’s population, 450 cases in 7 days would move Solano up into the CDC’s population-based definition of a HIGH transmission rate, and we will need to drop below 225 cases in 7 days to rate as having only MODERATE community transmission.

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 284 ACTIVE cases, down substantially from Friday’s 410, but still far above our summer rates.

CASES BY CITY on Monday, November 1:  [SOLANO DATA  NOT  UPDATED  TODAY]
…LATER INFO FROM SOLANO PUBLIC HEALTH via email:

City of Residence Number
Benicia 1541
Dixon 2543
Fairfield 12290
Rio Vista 612
Suisun City 3248
Vacaville 12048
Vallejo 13402
Unincorporated 140

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Solano’s 7-day percent positivity rate was 5.4% today, up slightly from Friday’s 5.3%.  COMPARE: Today’s California rate is 2.0%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking Center]  Today’s U.S. rate is 5.28%. [Source: CDC COVID Data Tracker.]

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations were up slightly today from 34 to 36 persons, and still far above the range we saw during last summer.

ICU Bed Availability is at 33% today, up from 29% on Friday, and in the GREEN zone.  We remain in the worrisome range we saw during last winter’s surge.

Ventilator Availability today rose substantially from only 51% to 68% – good news! 

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.  Total COVID hospitalizations in Solano remain at 2,838 since the beginning of the outbreak.

ALERT! Benicia’s mask mandate may be weakened by City Council on Nov 16

On Tuesday, October 19, Benicia City Council reviewed our CDC-defined 7-day community transmission rate for September-October, which has yet to dip below the SUBSTANTIAL level.  Because of this poor data and according to City Resolution 21-88, Council left in place Benicia’s citywide indoors mask mandate for now.  The mandate 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.  On Oct. 19, Councilmember Largaespada convinced other Councilmembers and staff to bring consideration of amending the mandate back to Council on November 16.  Largaespada suggested amendments that could weaken the mandate with various exceptions, possibly including no indoor mask requirements in restaurants, bars and gyms.  Largaespada would “Limit the mask mandate to the most essential businesses in town.”  He added that groceries, pharmacies, banks and City Hall might be considered essential.

Vallejo also passed an indoors mask mandate 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.  Recent 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