[For a complete archive of day by day data, see my Excel ARCHIVE – R.S.]

Friday, August 21: 42 new cases today, no new deaths.  Since the outbreak started: 5,048 cases, 44 deaths.Compare previous report, Thursday August 20:Summary

• Solano County reported 42 new cases today, total of 5,048 cases since the outbreak started.  Over the last 2 weeks, Solano reported 1,019 new cases, an average of 73 per day.

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  Deaths – no new deaths today, total of 44 Solano deaths.  The COVID victim reported on Wednesday is featured in this Vallejo Times-Herald story: After overcoming life’s struggles, father of two dies from virus – Mendoza, 49, spent 30 days in ICU.

• Active cases – Solano reported 34 fewer ACTIVE cases today, total of 361.  Note that only 40 of these 361 people are hospitalized, so there are a lot of infected folks out among us, hopefully quarantined.  Is the County equipped to contact trace so many infected persons?  Who knows?
• Hospitalizations – the number of currently hospitalized persons increased by 1 today, total of 40.  The total number hospitalized since the outbreak started remained steady, total of 277.  (Note that the County no longer reports Total Hospitalized, but we can add the new hospitalization numbers in the Age Group report – see below.)  For a fourth week now, the County offers no information about availability of ICU beds and ventilators.
• Testing – The County reports today that 775 more residents were tested, new total of 68,223.  Solano has a long way to go: only 15.2% of Solano County’s 447,643 residents (2019) have been tested.

Percent Positive Test Rate

Solano County reported today’s 7-day percent positive test rate dropped today, from 6.9% to 6.2%, still up from 4.1% last week.  The County’s 7-day test rate peaked at 9.3% on July 22.  Health officials and news reports focus on percent positive test rates as one of the best metrics for measuring the spread of the virus.  The California 7-day rate was reported today at 6.4%, down from 6.6% yesterday.  (Note that Solano County displays past weeks and months in a 7-day test positivity curve chart which also shows daily results.  However, the chart does not display an accurate number of cases for the most recent days, as there is a lag time in receiving test results.  The 7-day curve also lags behind current unknown results.) 

By Age Group

• Youth 17 and under – 5 new cases today, total of 528 cases.  No new hospitalizations among this age group, a total of 5 hospitalizations since the outbreak began, but notably, 3 in this past week.  Thankfully, no deaths.  It is clear that our young people are catching the disease, with a recent increase in hospitalizations.  It seems too many youth are ignoring public health orders.  Cases among Solano youth are 10.5% of the 5,048 total confirmed cases.
• Persons 18-49 years of age – 29 new cases today, total of 3,083 cases. This age group is 41% of the population in Solano, but represents over 61% of the 5,048 total cases, by far the highest percentage of all age groups.  The County reported no new hospitalizations in this age group today, total of 87 hospitalized since the outbreak began.  Also no new deaths among this age group today, total of 4 deaths.  This age group is very active.  Some are surely ignoring public health orders, and many are providing essential services among us.  I expect his group is a major factor in the spread of the virus.
• Persons 50-64 years of age – 6 new cases today, total of 962 cases.  This age group represents just over 19% of the 5,048 total cases.  No new hospitalizations and no new deaths.  Total of 77 hospitalized since the outbreak began and total of 4 deaths.
• Persons 65 years or older – only 1 new case today, total of 473 cases.  This age group represents 9.4% of the 5,048 total cases. No new hospitalizations today, total of 108 hospitalized since the outbreak began.  In this older age group, just under 23% of cases required hospitalization at one time, up from 17% a week ago Friday.  This is a much higher percentage than in the lower age groups.  No new deaths were reported in this age group today, total of 36 deaths.  This group accounts for 36 of the 44 deaths, or 82%.

City Data

• Benicia added 2 new cases today, total of 122 cases since the outbreak began.
• Dixon added 3 new cases today, total of 346 cases.
• Fairfield added 13 new cases today, total of 1,601.
• Rio Vista remained steady today, total of 36 cases.
• Suisun City added 2 new cases today, total of 363 cases.
• Vacaville added 7 new cases today, total of 864 cases.
• Vallejo added 15 new cases today, total of 1,699 cases.
• Unincorporated areas – Unincorporated areas remained steady today, total of 17 cases.

Race / Ethnicity

The County report on race / ethnicity includes case numbers, hospitalizations, deaths and Solano population statistics.  There are also tabs showing a calculated rate per 100,000 by race/ethnicity for each of these boxes.  This information is discouragingly similar to national reports that indicate worse outcomes among black and brown Americans.  As of today:

• White Americans are 39% of the population in Solano County, but only account for 21% of cases, 21% of hospitalizations and 23% of deaths.
• Black Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 12% of cases, but 19% of hospitalizations, and 25% of deaths.
• Latinx Americans are 26% of Solano’s population, but account for 27% of cases, 33% of hospitalizations, and 28% of deaths.
• Asian Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 9% of cases and 11% of hospitalizations, but 18% of deaths.

Much more…

The County’s new and improved Coronavirus Dashboard is full of much more information, too extensive to cover here on a daily basis.  The Benicia Independent will continue to summarize daily and highlight a report or two.  Check out the Dashboard at https://doitgis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=055f81e9fe154da5860257e3f2489d67.