[Source: Solano County Coronavirus Dashboard.  For a complete archive of day by day data, see my Excel ARCHIVE.]

With apologies – I was off on Wednesday, and did not capture the fleeting images and data from Solano County’s dashboard on Wednesday, October 28.  I found much of the data elsewhere as you will see below, but my daily reporting on age group hospitalizations cannot be recovered for the 28th.

Thursday, October 29: 106 (!) new cases overnight, no new deaths, no new hospitalizations.  Since the outbreak began: 7,586 cases, 529 hospitalized, 76 deaths.Compare previous report, Wednesday, Oct. 28:Summary

• Solano County reported 106 new cases overnight, by far the largest single-day increase since last spring.  Total of 7,586 cases since the outbreak started.
• Deaths – no new deaths reported today.  Total of 76 Solano deaths since the pandemic began.
• Active cases – Solano reported 101 (!) additional ACTIVE cases today, total of 395.  Note that only 23 of these 395 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?  To my knowledge, Solano County has offered no reports on contact tracing.
• Hospitalizations – Solano County reported the number of currently hospitalized persons increased by 3 overnight, total of 24.  Total Hospitalized INCREASED DRAMATICALLY on Tuesday, adding 106 previously unreported hospitalizations!  The numbers remained unchanged today, total of 529 hospitalized since the outbreak began.  For manual calculation of total, see age group stats below.
• ICU Beds – The County reported a sharp drop in ICU beds available today, down from 41% to 27%.  (Still no information about availability of ventilators.)

Positive Test Rate

Solano County reported today that our 7-day average test rate rose today from 5.3% to 6.5%.  Average percent positive test rates are among the best metrics for measuring the spread of the virus.  The much more stable California 7-day test rate has been on the rise lately, rising today, from 3.2% to 3.3%.  (Note that Solano County displays past weeks and months in a 7-day test positivity line graph 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 – 16 new cases since Tuesday, total of 862 cases, representing 11.4% of the 7,586 total cases.  Thankfully, no deaths have ever been reported in Solano County in this age group.  But cases among Solano youth rose steadily over the summer, from 5.6% of total cases on June 8 to 11% on August 31 and has plateaued just over 11% since September 30.  Youth are 22% of Solano’s general population, so this 11.x% may seem low.  The significance is this: 1) youth numbers increased steadily and at a faster rate than the other age groups, and 2) youth are SERIOUSLY NOT IMMUNE (!) – in fact 14 youth have now been hospitalized.
• Persons 18-49 years of age – 60 new cases since Tuesday, total of 4,471 cases. This age group is 41% of the population in Solano, but represents just under 60% of the total of 7,586 cases, by far the highest percentage of all age groups. No new deaths in this young group today, total of 6 deaths.  Some in this group are surely ignoring public health orders, and many are providing essential services among us.  I expect this group is a major factor in the spread of the virus.
• Persons 50-64 years of age – 35 new cases since Tuesday, total of 1,468 cases.  This age group represents over 19% of the 7,586 total cases.  No new deaths in this age group today, a total of 15 deaths.
• Persons 65 years or older – 30 new cases since Tuesday, total of 783, representing 10% of Solano’s 7,586 total cases.  No new deaths in this age group today, total of 55 of our elders who died of COVID.  This group accounts for 55 of the 76 total deaths, or 72%.

City Data

• Benicia remained steady today, total of 191 cases since the outbreak began.
• Dixon added 8 new cases today, total of 493 cases.
• Fairfield added 17 new cases today, total of 2,426 cases.
• Rio Vista remained steady today, total of 59 cases.
• Suisun City added 4 new cases today, total of 550 cases.
• Vacaville added 47 new cases today, total of 1,386 cases.
• Vallejo added 29 new cases today, total of 2,457 cases.
• Unincorporated areas added 1 new case today, total of 24 cases.

Race / Ethnicity

The County report on race / ethnicity includes case numbers, hospitalizations, deaths and Solano population statistics.  This information is discouragingly similar to national reports that indicate significantly worse outcomes among black and brown Americans.  Note that all of this data surely undercounts Latinx Americans, as there is a large group of “Multirace / Others” which likely is composed mostly of Latinx members of our communities.

• Asian Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 10% of cases, 11% of hospitalizations, and 20% of deaths.
• Black Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 11% of cases, but 18% of hospitalizations, and 25% of deaths.
• Latinx Americans are 26% of Solano’s population, but account for 27% of cases, 28% of hospitalizations, and 17% of deaths.
• White Americans are 39% of the population in Solano County, but only account for 22% of cases, 25% of hospitalizations and 29% of deaths.

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.