Benicia CA, Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Coronavirus, Covid 19, Delta variant, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine

Some COVID measures looking better in Solano County, but community transmission still HIGH

By Roger Straw, Monday, September 13, 2021

Monday, September 13: Solano reports 149 new infections over the weekend and 2 new hospitalizations

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

DEATHS: No new deaths today.  Total Solano deaths over the course of the pandemic now at 280.

CASES: The County reported  149 new COVID cases over the weekend.  It’s encouraging that we are down to 50 per day, lower than any time since July 19.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen 776 new cases, NEARLY TWICE the CDC’s population-based definition of a HIGH rate of transmission!  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.  And we are at 776 cases as of today!  [Reference: CDC’s level for “High Community Transmission”.]

YOUTH CASES: The percentage of Solano’s cases among our youth has increased very slowly over the course of the pandemic, starting below 6%, and only gradually reaching 12% in mid-April of 2021.  The percentage of youth cases has jumped a full 0.9% since mid-August.

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 588 ACTIVE cases is down from last Friday’s 838, but up alarmingly up from 212 on July 2.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Our 7-day average percent positivity rate was 9.1% today, down from 9.7% on Wednesday.  COMPARE: today’s California rate is 2.9% and today’s U.S. rate is 9.7%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins]  WARNING: The Delta Variant is here in Solano County and spreading fast.  Time to mask up again – watch out and take care!

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations were down today from 106 to 93 persons, but still in the range we saw during the winter surge.

ICU Bed Availability remained at 17% today, in the yellow danger zone.  Again, we are still in the range we saw during the winter surge.

Ventilator Availability remained at 59%, and 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 SUBSTANTIALLY updated its Hospitalizations charts Friday, adding over 500 previously unreported hospitalizations (by age, or nearly 450 by race/ethnicity).  The County added 2 more new hospitalizations today, both over 65, one Black person and one White person.  See below.  Interestingly, the TOTAL race/ethnicity numbers don’t square with the age group numbers.

FACE MASKS… Good News in Benicia and Vallejo

GOOD NEWS!  Benicia City Council passed a citywide indoors mask mandate. The mandate went into effect immediately and includes everyone 4 years old and up when indoors in public places, even those of us who are vaccinated.  The mask resolution, press release, and a flyer now appear on the City website.

Benicia was the first Solano city to take action despite the County’s lack of strong guidance on masks.  Benicia was joined by Vallejo on August 31.  In the Bay Area, Solano County REMAINS the only holdout against even RECOMMENDING masks in public indoors spaces. 

COUNTY-WIDE MASK MANDATE?  The Solano County Board of Supervisors has agendized a consideration of a MASK MANDATE TOMORROW, on Tuesday, September 14.  The description of the agenda item uses mandate language as follows: “Consider and provide direction regarding a Board Member request for the establishment of mandatory indoor face mask order for Solano County.”  BUT… County staff has offered a DRAFT resolution that merely “encourages” and “recommends” and doesn’t even use the words “mask” or “face covering” in the body of the resolution.  Your comments might be important before or during the Board’s Tuesday September 14 meeting.  For instructions on how to participate, see the Sept 14 Agenda.

Cases by City on Monday, September 13:
  • Benicia added 7 new cases today, a total of 1,369 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia has seen 24 new cases over the last 7 days, dropping Benicia or the first time since August 9 below the CDC’s definition of HIGH community transmission (based on Benicia population).  Benicia is still at the high end of the CDC’s range of SUBSTANTIAL transmission.  [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 8 new cases today, total of 2,386 cases.
  • Fairfield added 30 new cases today, total of 11,559 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 3 new cases today, total of 542 cases.
  • Suisun City added 7 new cases today, total of 3,011 cases.
  • Vacaville added 52 new cases today, a total of 11,263 cases.
  • Vallejo added 42 new cases today, a total of 12,550 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 0 new cases today, a total of 134 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