Tag Archives: Delta variant

#Masks4All, #wearamask, Benicia City Council, Benicia Mayor Steve Young, Benicia Vice Mayor Tom Campbell, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Delta variant, Local Regulation, Solano County Health Department

ALERT! Please attend City Council meeting tonight, Tues. Aug. 24, 6PM – Indoors Masking

Attend tonight’s 6PM meeting if you can!

By Roger Straw, August 24, 2021

Your comments and support for reinstating an indoors mask mandate for Benicia is desperately needed as we protect ourselves and others from the surging and highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19.

Our County health department is failing to protect public health and safety, so we have to take action locally.  Thank goodness Mayor Young and Vice-Mayor Campbell have taken this initiative.  The measure MUST pass tonight!

Here’s the agenda item, followed by instructions for attending the virtual meeting.

AGENDA ITEM 16.A – RESOLUTION REQUIRING THE WEARING OF FACE COVERINGS IN BENICIA (City Attorney)

At the August 17, 2021 City Council meeting, the City Council directed City staff to prepare a resolution requiring face coverings be worn in certain circumstances indoors given the rise of COVID-19 cases relating to the Delta variant. If adopted, the resolution would be effective immediately and require face coverings in certain locations as detailed in the resolution.

Recommendation:
Discuss and consider adopting a resolution requiring the mandatory use of face coverings in certain circumstances. Staff has attached two draft resolutions for consideration. The first resolution (Attachment 1) is based on Resolution No. 20-78, adopted by the Council on June 16, 2020. The second resolution is based on the health orders issued by the seven neighboring Bay Area health officers (Attachment 2). A majority vote is required to adopt any resolution.

Staff Report – Mandate Face Coverings

Attachment 1. DRAFT Resolution – Face Covering Mandate Based on Resolution No. 20-78

Attachment 2. DRAFT Resolution – Face Covering Mandate Based on Seven Bay Area Counties Health Orders

3. Two-Step Request – Mayor Young & Vice Mayor Campbell

HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN BENICIA COUNCIL MEETING:

Members of the public may provide public comments to the City Clerk by email at lwolfe@ci.benicia.ca.us. Any comment submitted to the City Clerk should indicate to which item of the agenda the comment relates. Specific information follows:

– Comments received by 2:00 pm on the day of the meeting will be electronically forwarded to the City Council and posted on the City’s website.
– Comments received after 2:00 pm, but before the start time of the meeting will be electronically forwarded to the City Council, but will not be posted on the City’s website, and will not be read into the record.
– Comments received after the start time of the meeting, but prior to the close of the public comment period for an item will be read into the record, with a maximum allowance of 5 minutes per individual comment, subject to the Mayor’s discretion.

Additionally, the public may view and provide public comment via Zoom (via computer or phone) link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83935851585?pwd=OXFSd1BPeHYxOUxOSXVqM0RFME1hQT09

• If prompted for a password, enter 405755.
• Use participant option to “raise hand” during the public comment period for the item you wish to speak on. Please note, your electronic device must have microphone capability. Once unmuted, you will have up to 5 minutes to speak.

OR: Dial in with phone:
Before the start of the item you wish to comment on, call any of the numbers below. If one is busy, try the next one.
1 669 900 9128
1 346 248 7799
1 253 215 8782
1 646 558 8656
1 301 715 8592
1 312 626 6799

• Enter the meeting ID number: 839 3585 1585 *please note this is an updated ID number*.
• Enter password: 405755
• When prompted for a Participant ID, press #.
• Press *9 on your phone to “raise your hand” when the Mayor calls for public comment during the item you wish to speak on. Once unmuted, you will have up to 5 minutes to speak.

#Masks4All, #wearamask, Benicia City Council, Benicia Herald, Christina Strawbridge, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Delta variant, Mandatory face coverings, Masks, Solano County Health Officer Bela Matyas

Christina Strawbridge on masks: ‘I’m hoping we can rise above politics here’

Benicia City Council to decide on city-wide mask mandate at Aug. 24 special meeting

Benicia Herald, by Galen Kusic, August 20, 2021
[Reprinted with permission, not available online.  Subscribe]

Nearly 81 percent of Benicia’s residents are fully vaccinated, making it the second most vaccinated city in the county, next to Rio Vista. However, as the Delta variant of COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the country, state and in Solano County, Benicia is not being spared.

Over the past five days, Benicia has recorded 20 new COVID-19 cases, an average of five new cases per day, for a total of 1,187 cases since the pandemic began. And while Benicia has the lowest incidence rate in the county at 4,305 per 100,000 residents, the uptick is alarming.

That is what spurred Mayor Steve Young and Vice Mayor Tom Campbell to bring back a discussion on whether to mandate masks in public indoor spaces within Benicia. The eight other Bay Area counties have already implemented the mandate, while Solano County Health Officer Bela Matyas is the lone holdout. In a unanimous vote on Tue. night at the regular City Council meeting, councilmembers voted to bring back the item for a vote on whether to implement the mandate at the Aug. 24 special meeting.

“I implemented a mask mandate within our store a week ago because of the Delta virus strain,” said Councilmember and First St. business owner Christina Strawbridge. “I think it’s the responsible thing to do. I have to protect my staff and I have to protect my customers…I’m hoping we can rise above politics here.”

Matyas has been invited to attend the meeting. It should be a spirited conversation at the least as the majority of residents spoke out in favor of the mandate.

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

Summer surge continues in Benicia and Solano County: 2 more deaths and 238 new infections countywide

By Roger Straw, Monday, August 23, 2021

Monday, August 23: Summer surge in Solano, report of 238 new infections today, 833 ACTIVE cases.  Fewer ICU beds available.

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

DEATHS: The County reported 2 new deaths today, 1 person age 50-64 and 1 age 65+.  One was Hispanic/Latinx and one was White.  Total deaths now number 264.

Percentage of cases by age groups. Click to enlarge.

CASES: The County reported  238 new COVID cases over the weekend, 79 per day, down dramatically from last week’s 157 per day. Case numbers show a startling increase in the PERCENTAGE OF YOUNG PERSONS age 0-17, increasing 0.3% last week to a new high of 13.2% of total cases.  The percentage of youth cases has increased very slowly over the course of the pandemic, starting below 6%, and very gradually reaching 12% in mid-April of 2021.  CASES-PER DAY TREND (All Age Groups): We are experiencing a dramatic “summer surge” now.  Cases-per-day were trending downward in the Spring, but rose rapidly in July and are skyrocketing here in August:ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 833 ACTIVE cases was down from Friday’s astonishing high or 1,087, but still up alarmingly from 212 on July 2, and in the range we experienced during the winter surge.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Down some today, thank goodness, but much higher than US & California!  Our 7-day average percent positivity rate was 15.7% today, down from 20.1% Friday, but still twice the purple tier margin, and over 3 times today’s California rate of 4.5% and nearly 1.5 times today’s U.S. rate of 11.5%. [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 up slightly today from 138 to 143 persons, still higher than any time since the winter surge.

ICU Bed Availability was down shockingly today from 24% to only 18%, in the yellow danger zone and lower than anytime since January 29.

Ventilator Availability was also down today from 54% to 51%, lower than anytime since Feb. 4.

TOTAL Hospitalized – 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 did not update its Hospitalizations by Age Group chart today.  The Age Group chart shows a total of 2,056 persons hospitalized since the beginning of the outbreak, in the following age groups:

Age Group Hospitalizations % of Total
0-17 36 2%
18-49 585 28%
50-64 549 27%
65+ 886 43%
TOTAL 2,056 100%

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 and percentages.  Interestingly, the total doesn’t square with the total by age groups.

Race / Ethnicity Hospitalizations % of Total
Asians 323 17%
Black / African American 336 17%
Hispanic / Latinx 555 29%
White 631 33%
Multirace / Others 84 4%
TOTAL 1,919 100%
Face Coverings… Good News in Benicia

Benicia City Council voted last week to move forward tomorrow, Tues. Aug. 24, in consideration of a Citywide indoors mask mandate for all public places.  Agenda here.  If the City moves forward with the mandate tomorrow, it will be the first Solano city to take action despite the County’s lack of strong guidance on masks.  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 make the necessary difficult decisions. 

Wearing masks again, social distancing & vaccination…

“Breakthrough” numbers are small in comparison to the huge surge in cases and hospitalizations among the unvaccinated, but it’s still a significant new factor.  We were just beginning to associate more freely with fully vaccinated friends and family, and now we understand that a small percentage of the vaccinated among us may be asymptomatic and unknowingly transmitting the virus, and inevitably helping spread the disease to someone who knows someone, who knows someone else, who knows yet another someone who is not vaccinated, or who is too young or too health-compromised to be vaccinated – and who may end up seriously ill or even dead!  Please mask indoors in public now, and maybe even indoors with vaccinated family and friends!  And PLEASE talk to anyone you know who isn’t vaccinated.  This thing ain’t over yet!

Cases by City on Monday, August 23:
  • Benicia added 11 new cases today, a total of 1,216 cases since the outbreak began, 4.4% of its population of 27,570.
  • Dixon added 9 new cases today, total of 2,169 cases, 11.0% of its population of 19,794.
  • Fairfield added 69 new cases today, total of 10,596 cases, 9.0% of its population of 117,149.
  • Rio Vista added 3 new cases today, total of 475 cases, 5.0% of its population of 9,416.
  • Suisun City added 15 new cases today, total of 2,753 cases, 9.3% of its population of 29,447.
  • Vacaville added 50 new cases today, a total of 10,175 cases, 10.3% its of population of 98,807.
  • Vallejo added 80 new cases today, a total of 11,496 cases, 9.6% of its population of 119,544.
  • Unincorporated added 1 new case today, a total of 122 cases (population figures not available).

Continue reading Summer surge continues in Benicia and Solano County: 2 more deaths and 238 new infections countywide →

#Masks4All, #wearamask, Benicia City Council, Benicia Mayor Steve Young, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Delta variant, Solano County Health Officer Bela Matyas

KRON4 Bay Area News: Benicia considers mask mandate

Benicia considers implementing mask mandate

KRON4 Bay Area News, by: Amanda Hari, Aug 22, 2021

BENICIA, Calif. (KRON) – One city is taking matters into its own hands when it comes to masking.

Solano County is the only county in the Bay Area without a mask mandate, but Benicia is considering implementing one.

On Tuesday, city council will be voting on a resolution to require face masks in indoor settings.

Mariana Moore has lived in the city for more than 40 years.

She says she loves it here but thinks they need to do more to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“If you follow the news at all and you follow the science you have to wear masks. I have kids in school and they’re wearing masks. The teachers are wearing masks.”

Mayor Steve Young tells KRON4 he’s been hearing similar calls for a mask mandate from other Benicia residents – and since the county isn’t going to implement one, he’s looking to do it on the city level.

“It’s frustrating to feel like on one hand we’re out of step with the rest of the county but perhaps another way to look at it is Solano County is out of step with the larger Bay Area community.”

Mayor Young says back at the beginning of the pandemic, the city had to institute a mask mandate on their own as well because health leaders wouldn’t do it on the county level.

“We are more likely to follow the lead of what we perceive to be the scientific consensus on masks.”

Moore says she hopes to see the county put this into effect this week.

“I just hope everyone thinks about how to not only take care of their own needs and their own desires but what we can do as a community. That’s what we have to do to beat this.”

The resolution to requiring masks was just introduced last week and it will be voted on this Tuesday at the city council meeting.

The mayor says they need three votes to pass the resolution.

He told KRON4 News he will be voting for it, the vice mayor will also be voting in favor, so they only need one more vote. He says based on conversations he’s had, he believes they’ll get it.