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Solano County sees 30 COVID-related deaths in January, nearing record highs of Feb-March 2021

NOTE: The information below is not the latest.  TAP HERE for today’s latest information.
By Roger Straw, Monday, January 31, 2022

SUMMARY: Monday, January 31, 2022: Solano County reported 1,755 new infections today and 6 new COVID-related deaths, a total of 30 deaths in January. Solano County and Benicia continue to experience an extremely high transmission rate!

Solano Public Health COVID dashboard, Monday, January 31, 2022:

DEATHS:  Solano reported six new deaths in today’s report, all age 65+.  Trending: Today’s report came after two consecutive County reports with no deaths – playing catch-up?  The County has seen increasing COVID-related deaths each month since last November, rising to 30 for this last day of January.  (Compare with last winter: 24 deaths in January 2021, 42 in February and 33 in March.)  A total of 381 Solano residents have now died of COVID or COVID-related causes over the course of the pandemic.

CASES BY AGE GROUP: 376 of today’s 1,755 new cases were youth and children under 18, 21% of the total.  861 of these cases (49%) were age 18-49.  337 cases (19%) were age 50-64, and 180 (10%) were 65+.  The County posts a chart showing Solano cases per 100K by age groups.  The 18-49 year age group is catching the virus at a far higher rate than others.  Those over 65 have been least likely to be infected.
MORE ON AGE GROUPS:  My color-coded chart (below) shows a record over TIME, including recent data.  It shows an alarming steady increase among youth and children.  The chart displays quarterly and recent snapshots in time 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.  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 17.0% as of today.  (From the CDC covid-data-tracker.)

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Solano is experiencing an EXTREMELY HIGH transmission rate, with a total of 3,770 new cases over the last 7 days, up from around 500 at Christmastime.  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 4,510 ACTIVE cases today is down from 5,404 on Friday, but dramatically up from around 2,000 at the New Year and only 329 on December 1.

CASES BY CITY – Monday, January 31, 2022:

  • Benicia added 63 new cases today, a total of 2,804 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia has seen 154 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). >>Note that the Benicia City Council is considering adding multiple metrics rather than the single metric of the CDC’s 7-day case count to determine when it is safe to lift certain COVID restrictions (see Benicia Chooses to Continue Mask Mandate, 1/19/22).  Note above that Solano County is currently also experiencing EXTREMELY HIGH transmission.
  • Dixon added 102 new cases today, total of 3,880 cases.
  • Fairfield added 393 new cases today, total of 18,690 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 24 new cases today, total of 975cases.
  • Suisun City added 121 new cases today, total of 4,964 cases.
  • Vacaville added 530 new cases today, a total of 17,822 cases.
  • Vallejo added 521 new cases today, a total of 22,781 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 1 new case today, a total of 182 cases.

TEST RATE:  Solano County’s 7-Day Percent Positive Test Rate shot up after Christmas and has continued through today’s incredibly high 30%.  SOLANO DOES NOT COMPARE FAVORABLY: The California 7-day % positive rate remained at 14.5% today.  [Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking Center]  The U.S. 7-day % positive rate was at 23.4% on Friday, but shows N/A in today’s chart. [Source: CDC COVID Data Tracker.] 

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations rose today from 154 to 131 persons.  Currently hospitalized persons in Solano peaked higher than ever before on Saturday, Jan 22, at 207 persons in hospital. (See below, and note that previous high was 176 on Jan 7, 2021.)

TOTAL hospitalizations – Solano Public Health updated its age and race hospitalizations charts today, adding only 2 persons, both age 65+.  Our total since the beginning of the outbreak is now 3,509 hospitalizations.

ICU Bed Availability in Solano County rose from 16% at last report to 21% available today, still in the Yellow danger zone.

Ventilator Availability  fell slightly today, from 60% to 59%. 

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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