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Solano County reports 4 more COVID deaths and 72 new cases today

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

By Roger Straw, Wednesday, March 9, 2022
[Note: I requested and received an email clarification from Solano County Public Health Officer Bela Matyas regarding Monday’s huge increase in our County’s COVID cases.  Dr. Matyas explained in rather technical terms the ‘different testing procedure’ that led to Monday’s sudden reporting of 4,115 previously undisclosed cases and the strange drop in the number of known hospitalizations.  I’m working on a post to share the new methodology – hopefully tomorrow, stay tuned….  – R.S.]

Solano County reported 72 new COVID infections today, 4 new deaths.

Solano Public Health COVID dashboard, Wednesday, March 9, 2022:

NOTICE: Solano County Public Health will update its COVID Dashboard ONLY ON MONDAYS & THURSDAYS as of March 14, 2022

DEATHS:  Solano reported four new deaths in today’s report, one relatively young person aged 18-49 and three age 65+.  Trending: Fifteen new deaths were reported in February, ALL over 65 years of age.  So far in March, 10 more County residents were reported to have died with COVID.  A total of 406 Solano residents have now died of COVID or COVID-related causes over the course of the pandemic.

TRANSMISSION RATE: With Monday’s huge corrections, Solano moved back into the HIGH transmission rate and remains there today, with a total of 4,325 new cases over the last 7 days. But the County has explained that many of Monday’s new cases are based on a ‘different testing procedure’ and predate our last 7 days, so we may not know Solano’s true 7-day case count until another week goes by.  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 reported 429 ACTIVE cases today, down from 456 at last report, but still far above the County’s 329 active cases on December 1.

CASES BY CITY – Wednesday, March 9, 2022:

  • BENICIA added 3 new cases today, a total of 3,098 cases since the outbreak began.  TRANSMISSION RATE: The County’s extraordinary update on Monday pushed Benicia’s 7-day case count well into the HIGH range and continues HIGH today at 80 CASES.  But the County has explained that many of these new cases are based on a ‘different testing procedure’ and predate our last 7 days, so we may not know Benicia’s true 7-day case count until another week goes by.  For a city with Benicia’s population, anything over 27 cases in 7 days is considered HIGH TRANSMISSION. (See chart below.)

  • Dixon reportedly (!?) had 2 fewer cases today, total of 4,309 cases.
  • Fairfield added 14 new cases today, total of 22,446 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 3 new cases today, total of 1,184 cases.
  • Suisun City added 5 new cases today, total of 5,868 cases.
  • Vacaville added 25 new cases today, a total of 21,467 cases.
  • Vallejo added 23 new cases today, a total of 25,294 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 1 new case today, a total of 199 cases.

TEST RATE:  Solano County’s 7-Day Percent Positive Test Rate shot up after Christmas and continued through February at 13%, but fell dramatically in March and remains at 7% today. Even at this lower rate, SOLANO DOES NOT COMPARE FAVORABLY: The CALIFORNIA 7-day % positive rate fell today from 1.8% to only 1.6%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking Center]  AND the U.S. 7-day % positive rate fell today from 3.2% to only 2.9%. [Source: CDC COVID Data Tracker.] 

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT The number of those currently hospitalized with COVID in Solano County fell today from 31 to 29 persons.  Current hospitalizations don’t tell the whole story, as it reflects both admissions and discharges.  Only from the increase in total hospitalizations can we know how many new admissions have come into our hospitals as of this date.

TOTAL hospitalizations over the course of the pandemic: Solano Public Health updated its Age Group chart today, adding 3 new hospitalizations, for a pandemic total of 3,667.  One of the three was age 18-49 and two were age 65+.

ICU Bed Availability in Solano County rose today from 43% to 49%, in the County’s GREEN safe zone .

Ventilator Availability  fell today from 72% to 64% available, but still in the GREEN safe zone. 

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).

Click green text above or on the image.

>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 between 4 and 6pm.  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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