#wearamask, Benicia CA, Benicia City Council, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Face coverings, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine, Vaccine mandate

Solano County reports 69 new infections, City of Benicia posts agenda for amending mask mandate

NOTE: The information below is not the latest.  CLICK HERE for today’s latest information.
By Roger Straw, Wednesday, November 10, 2021  [Note:  Be aware that the Benicia City Council may weaken its mask mandate on Nov. 16 – click here to scroll down.  – R.S.]

Wednesday, November 10: Solano County reports 69 new infections in last 2 days, remains in SUBSTANTIAL rate of transmission.

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, and good news: NONE since October 18.  Bad news: a total of 315 Solano residents have died of COVID or COVID-related causes over the course of the pandemic.

CASES: The County reported 69 new COVID cases since Monday. AGES: 11 of these 69 cases were youth and children under 18.  38 were age 18-49, 14 were age 50-64, and only 6 were 65+.  Thankfully, last Friday’s uptick in the number of seniors (8.5 per day) was very shortlived.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen SUBSTANTIAL community transmission, with 242 new cases (down from 258 on Monday).  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 316 ACTIVE cases is down substantially from Monday’s 332, but still far above our summer rates.

CASES BY CITY on Wednesday, November 10:

  • Benicia added 4 new cases today, a total of 1,554 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia remained in the MODERATE range of community transmission with ONLY 11 new cases over the last 7 days. Benicia has now seen MODERATE 7-day spread for 3 consecutive Solano updates (7 days) – SEE CHART BELOW.  MODERATE is defined as less than 14 cases, based on Benicia population.  Benicia will need to maintain fewer than 14 new cases per 7 days for 30 consecutive days before relaxing the mask mandate.  [Note above that Solano County is currently experiencing SUBSTANTIAL transmission.

  • Dixon added 0 new cases today, total of 2,559 cases.
  • Fairfield added 17 new cases today, total of 12,380 cases.
  • Rio Vista reported 3 new cases today, total of 619 cases.
  • Suisun City added 3 new cases today, total of 3,259 cases.
  • Vacaville added 17 new cases today, a total of 12,145 cases.
  • Vallejo added 24 new cases today, a total of 13,494 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 1 new case today, a total of 141 cases.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Solano’s 7-day percent positivity rate was 4.5% today, unchanged from Monday’s rate.  COMPARE: Today’s California rate is 1.9%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking Center]  Today’s U.S. rate is 5.2%. [Source: CDC COVID Data Tracker.] 

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations were down today from 34 to 32 persons, but still far above the range we saw during last summer.

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.  Solano Public Health did not update its age and race hospitalizations charts today.  Solano hospitals have admitted a TOTAL of 2,990 COVID patients since the beginning of the outbreak.  (Data on age is more reliable than that on race/ethnicity.)

ICU Bed Availability is 28% today, down from 35% on Monday, moving back into the YELLOW DANGER zone.  We remain in the worrisome range we saw during last winter’s surge.

Ventilator Availability today fell today from 69% to 60%.

ALERT! Benicia’s mask mandate may be weakened by City Council next Tuesday, Nov 16  – See: “Update on Face Coverings Mandate” Benicia City Council Agenda, Item 21.A, on page 9)

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 – see Agenda, p. 9.  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