Tag Archives: Coronavirus COVID 19

Contact tracing, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Solano County CA

Solano County hits 409 active cases of coronavirus – can they all be contact-traced?

Thursday, July 9: 63 new cases today,
no new deaths. Since the outbreak started: 1,985 cases, 108 hospitalized, 27 deaths.

Compare previous report, Wednesday July 8:Summary

  • Solano County reported 63 new cases today, total of 1,985 cases since the outbreak started.  Over the last 7 days, Solano reported 509 new cases, an average of 73 per day.
  • No new deaths today, total of 27.
  • Hospitalizations – Solano is reporting 1 fewer currently hospitalized person since yesterday, for a total of 39, and held steady at 108 persons in the total number hospitalized since the outbreak started.
  • Active cases (“The total number of laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Solano County residents who are still within 10 days of when their specimens were collected.”) – Solano reported 39 more ACTIVE cases today, total of 409.  This figure has been climbing steadily: a week ago Monday there were 70 active cases, increasing to a previous high of 369 on last week Thursday and today’s record high of 409.  Only 40 of those active cases are hospitalized – a whole lot of infected people are out among us, hopefully quarantined.  Seriously, is the County able to contact trace all of these?
  • ICU beds Available increased by 6% to 37%.  Ventilators Available declined by 4% to 82%.
  • Testing – 556 residents were tested since yesterday, total of 35,680.  We still have a long way to go: only 8% of Solano County’s 447,643 residents (2019) have been tested.

Details and Demographics tab

The County’s Public Health Dashboard includes a second tab (panel), “Details and Demographics” (shown here).  Note that the Summary tab and this Details tab are both user interactive – hover over a chart (or tap) to get details. On this Details tab, most of the small charts have a small additional tab showing the rate per 100,000.   Go there and explore the two tabs.  (Expand a chart by clicking the small button in its upper right corner.)

By Age Group

  • Youth 17 and under – 3 new cases today, total of 192 cases, and no new hospitalizations, total only 2.  Two weeks ago, there were only 87 cases among this age group – we’ve seen over 100 new cases in 14 days!  I continue to be alarmed for Solano’s youth.  Cases among Solano youth have increased in recent weeks to nearly 10% of the 1,985 total confirmed cases.
  • Persons 18-49 years of age – 46 new cases today, total of 1,188 cases.  This age group represents 60% of the 1,985 total cases, by far the highest percentage of all age groups.  The County reported no new hospitalizations among this age group today, total of 28 hospitalized at one time, and 2 deaths.
  • Persons 50-64 years of age – 10 new cases today, total of 381 cases.  This age group represents 19% of the 1,985 total cases.  No new hospitalizations today, total of 36 hospitalized at one time.  No new deaths, total of 3 deaths.
  • Persons 65 years or older – 4 new cases today, total of 223 cases.  This age group represents 11% of the 1,985 total cases.
    No new hospitalizations, total of 42 hospitalized since the outbreak began.  No new deaths, total of 22 deaths.  In this older age group, 19% of positive  cases required hospitalization at one time, a substantially higher percentage than in the lower age groups.  And this group accounts for 22 of the 27 deaths, or 81%.

Incidence Rate: Cases, Hospitalizations, Deaths

On the Race/Ethnicity chart (and also on the Age Group chart) there are “Rate” tabs.  Today’s report shows Solano County with:

    • Solano County has 442 positive cases per population of 100,000, up from 428 yesterday (Compare this number with the City incidence rates, below.)
    • 24 Solano hospitalizations per population of 100,000, same as yesterday.
    • 6 Solano deaths per population of 100,000, same as yesterday.

Percent Positive Test Rates

Increasingly, national, state and county news reports are focusing on percent positive test rates.  Five Bay Area counties report daily on their seven-day average percent positive test rate, but Solano County does not.  This information is immediately important, as positive test rates in California and other southwestern states are increasing.  I wrote and asked Dr. Matyas on June 24 to supply information as to Solano County’s “percent positive test rate.”  He replied next day with thanks and wrote, “We are actively working to include these values on our County dashboard.  I hope we can begin to report on them sometime next week.”  That was nearly 2 weeks ago… (and I wrote to him again today, will keep you posted).

City Data

  • Vallejo added 19 new cases today, total of 677.
  • Fairfield added 26 new cases today, total of 685.  Fairfield has seen over 200 new cases over the last week, and now has more positive cases than anywhere in Solano County.
  • Vacaville added 8 new cases today, total of 308 cases.
  • Suisun City added 3 new cases today, total of 130 cases.
  • Benicia added 1 new case today, total of 40 cases.  Benicia was extremely stable with only 2 new cases for the entire month of June.  Now Benicia has seen 14 new cases in 10 days.  The numbers are small in comparison to other Solano cities, but something’s definitely going on in Benicia!
  • Dixon added 5 new case today, total of 116 cases.  Dixon has also moved from stable to increasing over this last week.
  • Rio Vista added 1 new case, total of 21 cases.
  • Unincorporated areas – Although the County still still shows Unincorporated at <10 (less than 10), a little math tells the story: Solano’s unincorporated areas remained steady at 8 cases, those unaccounted for in the other City totals.
  • A “Rate” column shows the rate of positive COVID-19 cases (per 100,000 population) for each city.  Benicia has the lowest rate, 145.1 cases per 100,000.  Compare Solano cities’ incidence rates in the chart, and note that the CDC reports today’s rate in California at 732 per 100,000 (up from 702 yesterday).

Race / Ethnicity

The County report on race / ethnicity data 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 23% of cases, 22% of hospitalizations and 19% of deaths.
  • Black Americans are 13% of Solano’s population, and account for 12% of cases, but 29% of hospitalizations, and 35% of deaths.
  • Latinx Americans are 26% of Solano’s population, but account for 37% of cases.  They account for 25% of hospitalizations, and 23% of deaths.
  • Asian Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 10% of cases and 14% of hospitalizations, but 19% 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.

Coronavirus, Covid 19, Solano County CA

Solano County reports 98 new COVID-19 cases, Fairfield now has more cases than Vallejo

Wednesday, July 8: 96 new cases today,
no new deaths. Since the outbreak started: 1,922 cases, 108 hospitalized, 27 deaths.

Compare previous report, Tuesday July 7:Summary

  • Solano County reported 96 new cases today, total of 1,922 cases since the outbreak started.  Over the last 7 days, Solano reported 520 new cases, an average of 74 per day.
  • No new deaths today, total of 27.
  • Hospitalizations – Solano is reporting 5 more currently hospitalized since yesterday, for a total of 40, but only added 1 more in the total number hospitalized since the outbreak started, total of 108.  (?? Maybe a number of previously hospitalized and discharged patients were re-admitted?  Or the County is correcting an error?)
  • Active cases – Solano reported 53 more ACTIVE cases today, total of 370.  This figure has been climbing: a week ago Monday there were 70 active cases, increasing to a previous high of 369 on Thursday and today’s record high of 370.  Only 40 of those active cases are hospitalized – a whole lot of infected people are out among us, hopefully quarantined.
  • ICU beds Available steady at 31%.  Ventilators Available steady at 86%.
  • Testing – 795 residents were tested since yesterday, total of 35,124.  We still have a long way to go: only 7.8% of Solano County’s 447,643 residents (2019) have been tested.

Details and Demographics tab

The County’s Public Health Dashboard includes a second tab (panel), “Details and Demographics” (shown here).  Note that the Summary tab and this Details tab are both user interactive – hover over a chart (or tap) to get details. On this Details tab, most of the small charts have a small additional tab showing the rate per 100,000.   Go there and explore the two tabs.  (Expand a chart by clicking the small button in its upper right corner.)

By Age Group

  • Youth 17 and under – 10 new cases today, total of 189 cases, and no new hospitalizations, total only 2.  Two weeks ago, there were only 82 cases among this age group – we’ve seen over 100 new cases in 14 days!  I continue to be alarmed for Solano’s youth.  Cases among Solano youth have increased in recent weeks to just under 10% of the 1,922 total confirmed cases.
  • Persons 18-49 years of age – 65 new cases today, total of 1,142 cases.  This age group represents 59% of the 1,922 total cases, by far the highest percentage of all age groups.  The County reported no new hospitalizations among this age group today, total of 28 hospitalized at one time, and 2 deaths.
  • Persons 50-64 years of age – 16 new cases today, total of 371 cases.  This age group represents 19% of the 1,922 total cases.  No new hospitalizations today, total of 36 hospitalized at one time.  No new deaths, total of 3 deaths.
  • Persons 65 years or older – 5 new cases today, total of 219 cases.  This age group represents 11% of the 1,922 total cases.
    1 new hospitalization, total of 42 hospitalized at one time.  No new deaths, total of 22 deaths.  In this older age group, 19% of positive  cases required hospitalization at one time, a substantially higher percentage than in the lower age groups.  And this group accounts for 22 of the 27 deaths, or 81%.

Incidence Rate: Cases, Hospitalizations, Deaths

On the Age Group chart (and also on the Race/Ethnicity Chart) there are “Rate” tabs.  Today’s report shows Solano County with:

    • Solano County has 428 positive cases per population of 100,000, up from 406 yesterday (Compare this number with the City incidence rates, below.)
    • 24 Solano hospitalizations per population of 100,000, down from 26 yesterday.
    • 6 Solano deaths per population of 100,000, up from 5 yesterday.

Percent Positive Test Rates

Increasingly, national, state and county news reports are focusing on percent positive test rates.  Five Bay Area counties report daily on their seven-day average percent positive test rate, but Solano County does not.  This information is immediately important, as positive test rates in California and other southwestern states are increasing.  I wrote and asked Dr. Matyas on June 24 to supply information as to Solano County’s “percent positive test rate.”  He replied next day with thanks and wrote, “We are actively working to include these values on our County dashboard.  I hope we can begin to report on them sometime next week.”  That was nearly 2 weeks ago….

City Data

  • Vallejo added 18 new cases today, total of 658.
  • Fairfield added 39 new cases today, total of 659.  Fairfield has seen nearly 250 new cases over the last week, and has now eclipsed Vallejo’s total for positive cases.
  • Vacaville added 18 new cases today, total of 300 cases.
  • Suisun City added 8 new cases today, total of 127 cases.
  • Benicia added 2 new cases today, total of 39 cases.  Benicia was extremely stable with only 2 new cases for the entire month of June.  Now Benicia has seen 14 new cases in just over a week.  The numbers are small in comparison to other Solano cities, but something’s definitely going on in Benicia!
  • Dixon added 7 new case today, total of 111 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 3 new cases, total of 20 cases.
  • Unincorporated areas – Although the County still still shows Unincorporated at <10 (less than 10), a little math tells the story: Solano’s unincorporated areas added 1 new case today, total of 8 cases, those unaccounted for in the other City totals.
  • A “Rate” column shows the rate of positive COVID-19 cases (per 100,000 population) for each city.  Benicia has the lowest rate, 141.5 cases per 100,000.  Compare Solano cities’ incidence rates in the chart, and note that the CDC reports today’s rate in California at 702 per 100,000 (up from 658 yesterday).

Race / Ethnicity

The County report on race / ethnicity data 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 23% of cases, 22% of hospitalizations and 19% of deaths.
  • Black Americans are 13% of Solano’s population, and account for 12% of cases, but 29% of hospitalizations, and 35% of deaths.
  • Latinx Americans are 26% of Solano’s population, but account for 37% of cases.  They account for 25% of hospitalizations, and 23% of deaths.
  • Asian Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 10% of cases and 14% of hospitalizations, but 19% 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.

Coronavirus, Covid 19, Solano County CA, Test positivity rates

Solano County needs to publish COVID-19 “test positivity rates”

Percent Positive Test Rates

Increasingly, national, state and county medical reports are focusing on percent positive test rates.

Five Bay Area counties report daily on their seven-day average percent positive test rate, but Solano County does not.

This information is immediately important, as positive test rates in California and other southwestern states are increasing.

I wrote and asked Dr. Matyas on June 24 to supply information as to Solano County’s “percent positive test rate.”  He replied next day with thanks and wrote, “We are actively working to include these values on our County dashboard.  I hope we can begin to report on them sometime next week.”

That was nearly 2 weeks ago.  This important information needs to be made public immediately.  It will be important that the percent positive rate is tracked over time, and displayed as a 7-day chart, so that trends are visible and easily understood.

For comparison purposes…

Without any data from Solano, it’s impossible to compare as yet, but here are 7-day test positivity rates from California and other locations across the U.S. (as of July 7, Vallejo Times-Herald):

  • California 7.5%, 18th among all 50 states
  • Arizona 25.3%
  • Florida 18.7%
  • U.S. national rate was below 5% three weeks ago, now 7.8%
  • IMPORTANT: the World Health Organization has said positivity rates should remain at 5% or below for 14 days before beginning to reopen. Currently, only 23 states meet that metric, according to Johns Hopkins University and the COVID Tracking Project.
California, Coronavirus, Covid 19, San Francisco Bay Area, Test positivity rates

COVID-19 “test positivity rates” in California, U.S.

Coronavirus: California continues troubling trend upward in COVID-19 metrics

With the weekend delays accounted for, the 7-day average of new cases climbed to its highest point of the pandemic
Vallejo Times-Herald, by Evan Webeck, July 7, 2020

The seven-day average of new coronavirus cases in California soared as Los Angeles County reported three days’ worth of test results Monday.

The raw number of cases reported around the state Monday obliterated the previous record but comes with an enormous caveat: a number of counties, including L.A., which itself accounts for nearly half the state’s confirmed cases, had backlogs of test results of up to three days because of the long holiday weekend. In total, the statewide case count grew by 16,637, including 8,903 in Los Angeles, to 271,889, according to data compiled by this news organization. Another 109 Californians succumbed to the virus — 81 in Los Angeles — raising the death toll to 6,446.

With the weekend delays accounted for, the average number of new cases reported around the state each day for the past week climbed to its highest point of the pandemic. For the first time, California is adding more 7,000 new cases per day — 7,041, 28.6% more than a week ago — while the average daily death count reached its highest level in more than a month: 67 lives taken by the virus each day over the past week.

Hospitalizations and test-positivity rate, two metrics frequently cited by Gov. Gavin Newsom and local health officials, also continued to slope upward. There were 5,790 patients hospitalized statewide Sunday, including 504 in the Bay Area. In the past two weeks, the number of COVID-19 patients in hospital beds has doubled in the Bay Area while rising 56% statewide.

Even as some counties near capacity, there remain plenty of open hospital and ICU beds around the state. Riverside County’s ICUs were 94% full Sunday — down from 99% last week, though more were COVID-19 patients (9.5% of ICU beds on June 27; 13.9% on July 5) — while hospitals in the Bay Area are accepting transfers from other counties. Statewide, COVID-19 patients continue to take up about 8% of the state’s hospital beds.

The percentage of tests to come back positive over the past seven days also crossed the 7% threshold for the first time since the end of April. In two weeks, it has risen from 4.9% to 7.5% even as the state conducts more tests. Labs around the state reported 25% more positive tests in the past week than the one before (6,826 per day vs. 5,499), despite conducting 12.5% more tests (104,523 per day vs. 92,848).

Newsom has previously said “each decimal point is profoundly impactful” when it comes to positivity rate. But California’s still lags many other states, despite recording among the most cases. Its 7.5% rate ranks 18th among all 50 states, well behind Arizona (25.3%) and Florida (18.7%). The country’s rate has seen a similar spike: below the 5% threshold three weeks ago, to 7.8% now.

The World Health Organization has said positivity rates should remain at 5% or below for 14 days before beginning to reopen. Currently, only 23 states meet that metric, according to Johns Hopkins University and the COVID Tracking Project.