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

Solano County Health Department discloses over 500 previously unreported COVID hospitalizations

By Roger Straw, Friday, September 10, 2021 (With apologies for a mathematical error in hospitalizations, updated here on September 12)

Friday, September 10: Solano reports 4 dead and a massive increase in hospitalizations

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

DEATHS: Four new deaths today, 2 age 50-64 and 2 age 65+.  Total Solano deaths over the course of the pandemic now at 280.

CASES: The County reported  221 new COVID cases in the last two days, 111 per day.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen 1,144 new cases, OVER 2½ TIMES 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 an astonishing 2,616 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 838 ACTIVE cases is up from last Wednesday’s 813, and up alarmingly up from 212 on July 2, and in the range we experienced during the deadly surge last winter.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Our 7-day average percent positivity rate was 9.7% today, down from 11.7% on Wednesday.  COMPARE: today’s California rate is 2.9% and today’s U.S. rate is 10.0%.  [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 112 to 106 persons, but still in the range we saw during the winter surge.

ICU Bed Availability rose from Wednesday’s alarmingly low of 9% of ICU beds available to 17% today, back into the yellow danger zone.  Again, we are still in the range we saw during the winter surge.

Ventilator Availability was up today from 51% to 59%, but 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 today, adding over 500 previously unreported hospitalizations (by age, or nearly 450 by race/ethnicity).  See below.  (NOTE CORRECTION – THE NUMBER OF NEW HOSPITALIZATIONS WAS NOT OVER 1,000 AS PREVIOUSLY REPORTED HERE.)  Interestingly, the 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 on Tuesday, September 14.  Good news??  Maybe not!  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 Friday, September 10:
  • Benicia added 8 new cases today, a total of 1,362 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia has seen 43 new cases over the last 7 days, over 1½ times the CDC’s definition of HIGH community transmission level based on Benicia population.  [Note that Solano County is also rated far above high transmission, and Solano’s 6 other cities are likely also individually experiencing high transmission.]
  • Dixon added 16 new cases today, total of 2,378 cases.
  • Fairfield added 41 new cases today, total of 11,529 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 6 new cases today, total of 539 cases.
  • Suisun City added 15 new cases today, total of 3,004 cases.
  • Vacaville added 73 new cases today, a total of 11,211 cases.
  • Vallejo added 62 new cases today, a total of 12,508 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 0 new cases today, a total of 134 cases (population figures not available).

Continue reading Solano County Health Department discloses over 500 previously unreported COVID hospitalizations →

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

Four dead in So-Lan-O

By Roger Straw, Friday, September 10, 2021
NOTE – This Friday BenIndy report is incomplete due to circumstances beyond my control.  Check back tomorrow, on Saturday, for a my usual in-depth analysis.  – Roger Straw

Friday, September 10: Solano reports 4 dead, 221 new infections and a massive increase in hospitalizations among all ages

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

DEATHS: Four new deaths today, 2 age 50-64 and 2 age 65+.  Total Solano deaths over the course of the pandemic now at 280.

CASES: The County reported  221 new COVID cases in the last two days, 111 per day.

For more, see today’s data in my ARCHIVE of daily Solano COVID updates (an excel spreadsheet

Check back tomorrow for the usual more complete report.  But for now, I’ll just publish a poem I wrote the last time the County reported 4 new COVID deaths, on July 28, 2021.  Note that today’s 4 new deaths make a total of 31 Solano residents who have died of COVID in the 44 days since July 28….

Four Dead

An old old lyric
Anew now in my head,
‘Four dead in O-Hi-O…’
‘Four dead in O-Hi-O…’

The memory lingers from long ago,
Kent State killings
That stalked my college dorm
Like dragon breath
With mental sirens and communal alarms.

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
Still echo beyond that time,
The truth beneath the number four –
Death comes to families and friends
Unprepared for the brutal end of those we love.

And so now again,
‘Four dead’ –
Yes, Four dead in So-Lan-O
In Solano … our county count
Of newly demised, of COVID dead,
The rising toll over just the last two days.

Two of us of middle age
And two beyond those years,
Succumbed to the suffocation
Of the Delta Death,
News of import and deepening unrest,
Setting off sirens and private and public alarms.

Four dead today
In So-Lan-O.

Roger Straw
July 30, 2021

Continue reading Four dead in So-Lan-O →

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

ICU beds in Solano County now in red warning zone

By Roger Straw, Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Wednesday, September 8: Solano reports 406 new infections and only 9% of ICU beds available (red warning zone)

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

DEATHS: Good news, no new deaths were reported over the 5-day holiday hiatus.  Total Solano deaths over the course of the pandemic remain at 276.

CASES: The County reported  406 new COVID cases in the last five days, 81 per day, down significantly from last week, but still in the range of last winter’s surge.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen 1,967 new cases, OVER FOUR TIMES the CDC’s 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 1,967 cases as of today!  [Reference: CDC’s level for “High Community Transmission”.]

YOUTH CASES: Case numbers continue to show a startling increase in the percentage of new cases among young persons age 0-17, increasing another tenth of a percent today to a new high of 13.9% of total cases.  The percentage of youth cases increased very, 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 813 ACTIVE cases is down sharply from last Friday’s 1,051, but still alarmingly up from 212 on July 2, and in the range we experienced during the deadly surge last winter.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Our 7-day average percent positivity rate was 11.7% today, down from 13.9% on last Friday, but 3.5 times today’s California rate of 3.3% and 1.25 times today’s U.S. rate of 9.4%. [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 123 to 112 persons, but still in the range we saw during the winter surge.

ICU Bed Availability dropped alarmingly to only 9% of ICU beds available today, in the RED WARNING ZONE.  This is the first time Solano ICU beds were in the red zone since January 27, 2021.

Ventilator Availability was up today from 44% to 51%, but still in the range of last February’s winter surge.

TOTAL hospitalizations  The County’s Monday-Friday dashboard shows an intake/discharge total of CURRENTLY hospitalized cases (above), but never reports on the TOTAL hospitalized 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.  The County updated its Hospitalizations charts today.  See the Age Group chart and the Race / Ethnicity chart below.  Interestingly, the 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.  Hopefully, Dr. Matyas will learn from Benicia and Vallejo, and make the necessary difficult decisions, but all reports are that he intends not to do so. 

Please mask indoors in public places now, and maybe even indoors in crowded gatherings at home with vaccinated family and friends!  PLEASE talk to anyone you know who isn’t vaccinated.  This thing ain’t over yet!

Cases by City on Wednesday, September 8:
  • Benicia added 9 new cases today, a total of 1,354 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia has seen 78 new cases over the last 7 days, nearly 3 times the CDC’s definition of HIGH community transmission level based on Benicia population.  [Note that Solano County is also rated in high transmission, and Solano’s 6 other cities are likely also individually experiencing high transmission.]
  • Dixon added 25 new cases today, total of 2,362 cases.
  • Fairfield added 106 new cases today, total of 11,488 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 7 new cases today, total of 533 cases.
  • Suisun City added 34 new cases today, total of 2,989 cases.
  • Vacaville added 115 new cases today, a total of 11,138 cases.
  • Vallejo added 109 new cases today, a total of 12,446 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 1 new case today, a total of 134 cases (population figures not available).

Continue reading ICU beds in Solano County now in red warning zone →

California, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Solano County Health Officer Bela Matyas

Solano County reports postdating of huge recent increase in COVID cases

By Roger Straw, September 7, 2021

Dr. Matyas reports glitch in information received from State – recent spike of 1,000+ actually dates back into July

Fairfield Daily Republic, by Todd Hansen, September 3, 2021

FAIRFIELD — The state has figured out why coronavirus reporting has been so off-track during this recent Covid surge – a glitch that on Wednesday added 1,044 cases to Solano County’s total.

However, the cases date back into July, with only 160 cases since Monday’s update – taking the full count to 41,521, the county reported.

Sill, that reflects a daily average of 80 new cases in those two days, and the 10-day average remained at 110.

“Almost all of (the delayed reports) are from Kaiser Northern California,” Dr. Bela Matyas, the Solano County public health officer, said in a phone interview. The reporting glitch was just recently discovered.

Kaiser Permanente said in a statement released Thursday that the company is working with its technology vendor to ensure that the situation is resolved. The company said in the statement that it has made the data available through an alternate means while the situation was occurring, but did not include in the statement details about the alternate reporting.

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