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Solano COVID report: 6 new deaths Monday, 3 more today, and 141 previously unreported hospitalizations

By Roger Straw, Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Wednesday, September 22: Solano County reports 3 more deaths, 212 new infections and 141 additional hospitalizations

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

DEATHS: 3 new deaths today.  Total Solano deaths over the course of the pandemic now at 290.  Solano Health Officer Dr.  Bela Matyas recently noted a surprising 24% of deaths during the recent Solano surge were vaccinated individuals.  It seems a clear signal for those of us who have been vaccinated to continue to wear masks and steer clear of close aerosol contact with unknown others.  Total deaths by age and race/ethnicity:

CASES: The County reported  212 new COVID cases since Monday, 106 per day, back up to last weeks average of 105 per day and still in the range of last winter’s surge.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen 599 new cases, 2.7 TIMES the CDC’s population-based definition of a SUBSTANTIAL rate of transmission and 1.3 TIMES the CDC’s definition of a HIGH rate of transmission.

(CDC FORMULA: Based on Solano County population of 449,432, the CDC would rate us in “SUBSTANTIAL” transmission with 225 cases over the last 7 days.  Double that, or 450 cases in the last 7 days would rank us in “HIGH” transmission.  Reference: CDC’s “Level of SARS-CoV-2 Community Transmission”.]

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 649 ACTIVE cases is up from Monday’s 627, and far surpassing our summer rates.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Our 7-day average percent positivity rate was 8.2% today, up from 7.6% on Monday.  COMPARE: today’s California rate is 1.9%.  Today’s U.S. rate is 8.0%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins]

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations were down today from 81 to 74 persons, but still in the range we saw during the winter surge.

ICU Bed Availability took another big hit today, falling from 23% to only 18%, still in the yellow danger zone.  Again, we are in the worrisome range we saw during the winter surge.

Ventilator Availability went down today from 57% to only 48%, still in the range of last February’s winter surge.

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 reported a MAJOR UPDATE on its Hospitalizations charts today, adding 141 previously unreported hospitalizations.  See below.  The race/ethnicity numbers indicate a number of persons whose race/ethnicity was not given or recorded.

FACE MASKS… Good News in Benicia and Vallejo

GOOD NEWS! Benicia City Council passed a citywide indoors mask mandate that 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.  Benicia was joined by Vallejo on August 31.  In the Bay Area, Solano County REMAINS the only holdout against a mask mandate for public indoors spaces.

THE SOLANO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS failed to even consider an agendized proposal for a countywide MASK MANDATE last week.  On Tuesday, September 14, the Board’s agenda called for discussion of an indoors mask mandate for all and a vaccination mandate for county workers.  The Board voted 4-1 to require county-run facilities in Vallejo and Benicia to abide by local mandates.  But the Board voted down the vaccination mandate 3-2, and failed to even consider the county-wide mask mandate.  The Solano Board of Supervisors now joins with Dr. Bela Matyas in officially showing poor leadership on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cases by City on Wednesday, September 22:
  • Benicia added 10 new cases today, a total of 1,408 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia has seen 30 new cases over the last 7 days, just above the CDC’s definition of HIGH community transmission (defined as 28 cases, based on Benicia population).  [Note that Solano County is also rated far above high transmission, and Solano’s 6 other cities are likely also individually experiencing high or substantial transmission.]
  • Dixon added 17 new cases today, total of 2,442 cases.
  • Fairfield added 64 new cases today, total of 11,776 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 3 new cases today, total of 559 cases.
  • Suisun City added 19 new cases today, total of 3,101 cases.
  • Vacaville added 40 new cases today, a total of 11,542 cases.
  • Vallejo added 58 new cases today, a total of 12,828 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 1 new case today, a total of 137 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 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