Benicia CA, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Delta variant, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine

Summer surge hitting Solano County hospitals, test positivity far surpassing US and CA rates

By Roger Straw, Monday, July 26, 2021

Solano County on Monday, July 26: 289 new COVID infections over the weekend.  Hospitalizations up dramatically.  Test positivity nears 17%!

Solano County COVID dashboard SUMMARY:
[Sources: see below.  See also my ARCHIVE spreadsheet of daily Solano COVID updates.]

Solano County reported no new deaths today.  The County total is now 245 deaths since the pandemic began.  But the County reported  289 new COVID cases over the weekend, 96 per day!  Solano is clearly experiencing a “summer surge” in cases.

TREND: Cases-per-day dramatically up in July

Cases-per-day were trending downward in recent months, but are now rising sharply, especially over the last week:

Solano’s 451 ACTIVE cases is down from Friday’s remarkable high of 647, but still higher than anything since February 19, 2021.  Active cases have risen alarmingly in just two weeks, up from 289 cases on July 12.

Test Rate INCREDIBLY HIGH – compare with US & CA

Our 7-day average percent positivity rate was up alarmingly again today from a shocking 14.9% on Friday to an even more surprising 16.8% today, the County’s highest rate since January 29, 2021.  We would be decidedly back in the PURPLE TIER with rates this high.  COMPARE: The US 7-day % positive rate today is at 5.3%, and the California rate is 3.8%. [Source: Johns Hopkins]

Hospitalizations – fewer ICU Beds and Ventilators available

CURRENT hospitalizations jumped today from 33 to 45 persons CURRENTLY hospitalized with COVID.   ICU beds available fell dramatically today from 50% to only 32%. And the County reported fewer ventilators available today, down from 80 to 69.  These numbers confirm the spike in hospitalizations, see below…

The County updates the intake/discharge total of CURRENTLY hospitalized cases with every report, but never reports on the cumulative total of hospitalized COVID patients over the course of the pandemic.  That total must be independently discovered in the County’s occasional update of the Hospitalizations by Age Group chart which was not updated today, and now shows a total of 1,309 persons hospitalized since the beginning of the outbreak, in the following age groups:

Age Group Hospitalizations % of Total
0-17 27 2%
18-49 327 25%
50-64 342 26%
65+ 613 47%
TOTAL 1,309 100%

Hospitalizations are also recorded on the County’s demographic chart labeled “Hospitalizations by Race / Ethnicity.”  The chart was not updated today.  Here are the current numbers.  Interestingly, the total doesn’t square with totals by age groups.

Race / Ethnicity Hospitalizations % of Total
Asians 184 15%
Black / African American 200 16%
Hispanic / Latinx 327 27%
White 406 34%
Multirace / Others 86 7%
TOTAL 1,203 99%
SUMMER SURGE – Masks, Social Distancing & Vaccination

COVID is clearly circulating again and surging in Solano County!  Some California counties are returning to mandatory masks for all in crowded places, and today the State of California issued a policy for state employees and health care workers, requiring them to either get vaccinated or be tested weekly for the virus.  In the Bay Area, Solano County is the only holdout against even RECOMMENDING masks in public indoors spaces.  My personal plan is to mask indoors in public even though I’m vaccinated, and I’d recommend it for you, too.  This thing ain’t over yet!

Cases by City on Monday, July 26:
  • Benicia added 8 new cases today, a total of 1,092 cases since the outbreak began, 4.0% of its population of 27,570.
  • Dixon added 7 new case today, total of 1,997 cases, 10.1% of its population of 19,794.
  • Fairfield added 74 new cases today, total of 9,560 cases, 8.2% of its population of 117,149.
  • Rio Vista added 4 new cases today, total of 421 cases, 4.5% of its population of 9,416.
  • Suisun City added 38 new cases today, total of 2,487 cases, 8.4% of its population of 29,447.
  • Vacaville added 82 new cases today, a total of 9,341 cases, 9.5% its of population of 98,807.
  • Vallejo added 76 new cases today, a total of 10,476 cases, 8.8% of its population of 119,544.
  • Unincorporated remained steady today, a total of 108 cases (population figures not available).

COMPARE: From the most recent report on Solano County’s COVID Dashboard, Friday, July 23:

The data on this page is from today’s and the previous Solano County COVID-19 Dashboard.  The Dashboard is full of much more information and updated weekdays 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