Tag Archives: Dixon CA

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

Solano County report: Halloween parties contributed to COVID surge

November 10, 2020 Roger Straw

1st reports from Halloween parties cause Solano Covid-19 case surge

City of Fairfield IT Department employee Steph Bunch delivers candy from a distance to Michael Graham during the Parks and Recreation Department’s Halloween event in the parking lot at the Civic Center downtown, Friday, Oct. 30, 2020. (Robinson Kuntz/Daily Republic file)

Fairfield Daily Republic, By Todd R. Hansen, November 10, 2020

FAIRFIELD — Solano County averaged nearly 80 new cases over the past three days as the first reports of Halloween-related transmissions were reported to Public Health.

“But not big events,” Dr. Bela Matyas, the county public health officer, said in a phone interview Monday. “These are in the range of 15 to 20 people.”

He said the conclusion was that these early reports are from private events and not larger, organized parties. It also appears it is mostly younger people, so unlike July when deaths and hospitalizations surged along with the cases, that is not the case now.

“But it doesn’t help the county with its cases,” Matyas said, a reference to the state’s metrics when deciding whether Solano County could be returned to more-restrictive shutdowns if it cannot get the numbers down in the next two weeks.

The county reported 234 new cases since Friday’s update – an average of 78 cases each day. Friday’s jump was even worse at 132 new cases.

“We had a bad weekend . . . and Friday was bad,” Matyas said.

The number of deaths attributed at least in part to Covid-19 stayed at 79, with one more case being reviewed but not yet confirmed. That case also is related to a Vacaville memory care center where the past three deaths occurred.

Hospitalizations rose to 31 from 24.

Matyas said the number of active cases also has been climbing, now up to 577. That metric reflects the number of positive tests within a person’s 10-day infectious period.

The seven-day positivity testing rate, which along with the case rate is what the state looks at to determine the county’s status, was reported Monday at 11.4%. The threshold between “red” and “purple” is 8%.

California’s color-coded monitoring system designates the purple tier for counties where transmission of the novel coronavirus is considered to be widespread. Shutdown orders for counties in the purple tier are the most severe. The red tier is for counties with substantial spread of the virus. The orange tier designates moderate virus transmission, while the yellow tier is reserved for counties where the spread of the virus is deemed to be minimal.

Restrictions to slow the spread of the virus are eased as counties move from purple to red, red to orange and orange to yellow.

The total number of completed tests is 111,092, up from 109,683 in Friday’s update. The number of tests has helped the county with the state and is likely keeping it from regressing into purple status starting Tuesday.

Fairfield added 72 new cases to bring its total to 2,646. Vallejo added 80 cases for a Monday count of 2,697. Vacaville added 56 cases, bringing its tally to 1,572.

Suisun City (598) added 12 cases; Dixon (547) was up eight cases; Benicia (215) added five; and Rio Vista’s one new case took its total to 64.

The unincorporated area of the county had 27 cases reported, the same as Friday. The number was wrongly reported at 28.

[continued…]

Coronavirus, Covid 19, Solano County CA

Solano COVID OUTBREAK: positive test rate at shocking 11.4%, 234 new cases, 48 teens infected

November 9, 2020 Roger Straw

UPDATE: See today’s latest information

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

Monday, November 9: 234 (!) new cases over the weekend, no new deaths, 1 new hospitalization. Since the outbreak began: 8,366 cases, 536 hospitalized, 79 deaths.Compare previous report, Friday, Nov. 6:Summary

Solano County reported 234 new cases over the weekend, the third largest weekend increase ever (264 on July 6, 245 on August 10) . Total of 8,366 cases since the outbreak started.
Deaths – no new deaths reported today, total of 79 Solano deaths since the pandemic began.
Active cases – Solano reported an increase of 30 additional active cases today, total of 577. The County has added 184 active cases since last Wednesday! Note that only 31 of these 577 individuals 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 7 over the weekend, total of 31. According to a November 7 email from Dr. Bela Matyas, the County occasionally updates Age Group hospitalizations retroactively. This accounts for the sudden 106 additions on October 29, a one-day increase of 25% in total hospitalizations. These 106 had never been recorded as CURRENTLY hospitalized. My take on this is that daily updates on current hospitalizations are nearly meaningless. Nonetheless, I will continue to track both CURRENT hospitalizations and TOTAL hospitalizations since the outbreak began. TOTAL hospitalized since the outbreak began supposedly increased by 1 today, total of 536 hospitalized since the outbreak began. For manual calculation of total, see age group stats below.
ICU Beds – The County reported fewer ICU beds available today, down from 52% to 41%. (Still no information about availability of ventilators.)

Positive Test Rate – a shocking 11.4%

Solano County reported that our 7-day average positive test rate rose today to it’s HIGHEST RATE EVER! Our rate rose from 8.1% to an alarming 11.4% today. Average percent positive test rates are among the best metrics for measuring the spread of the virus. The much lower and more stable California 7-day average test rate has also been on the rise lately, increasing today from 3.6% to 4.1%. (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 – 48 (!) new cases over the weekend, total of 978 cases, representing a jump from 11.4% to 11.7% of the 8,366 total cases. No new hospitalizations reported today. 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 at over 11% since September 30. Youth are 22% of Solano’s general population, so this 11.x% may seem low. The significance is this: youth are SERIOUSLY NOT IMMUNE (!) – in fact 14 youth have now been hospitalized.
Persons 18-49 years of age – 125 new cases over the weekend, total of 4,892 cases. This age group is 41% of the population in Solano, but represents just under 60% of the total cases, by far the highest percentage of all age groups. 1 new hospitalization reported today, total of 179. 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 – 44 new cases over the weekend, total of 1,620 cases. This age group represents over 19% of the 8,366 total cases. No new hospitalizations reported today, total of 151. No new deaths in this age group today, a total of 15 deaths.
Persons 65 years or older – 17 new cases today, total of 872, representing 10.4% of Solano’s 8,366 total cases. No new hospitalizations reported today, total of 192 since the outbreak began. No new deaths in this age group today, total of 58 of our elders who died of COVID. This group accounts for 58 of the 79 total deaths, or 73%.

City Data

Benicia added 5 new cases today, total of 215 cases since the outbreak began.
Dixon added 8 new cases today, total of 547 cases.
Fairfield added 72 new cases today, total of 2,646 cases.
Rio Vista added 1 new case today, total of 64 cases.
Suisun City added 12 new cases today, total of 598 cases.
Vacaville added 56 new cases today, total of 1,572 cases.
Vallejo added 80 new cases today, total of 2,697 cases.
Unincorporated areas remained steady today, total of 27 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 9% of cases, 11% of hospitalizations, and 19% of deaths.
Black Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 12% of cases, but 18% of hospitalizations, and 23% of deaths.
Latinx Americans are 26% of Solano’s population, but account for 26% of cases, 29% of hospitalizations, and 17% of deaths.
White Americans are 39% of the population in Solano County, but only account for 23% of cases, 25% of hospitalizations and 32% 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.

Coronavirus, Covid 19, Solano County CA

Solano County COVID update: 3 dead, alarming increase in cases and test rate

November 6, 2020 Roger Straw

UPDATE: See today’s latest information

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

Friday, November 6: 136 (!) new cases overnight, 3 new deaths, 2 new hospitalizations. Since the outbreak began: 8,132 cases, 535 hospitalized, 79 deaths.Compare previous report, Thursday, Nov. 5:Summary

Solano County reported 136 new cases overnight, the largest one-day increase ever. Total of 8,132 cases since the outbreak started.
Deaths – 3 new deaths reported today, all 65 years or over. Total of 79 Solano deaths since the pandemic began.
Active cases – Solano reported an increase of 47 additional active cases today, total of 547. This is in addition to 107 new active cases in the two previous days, 154 in 3 days. Note that only 24 of these 547 individuals 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 since the outbreak began increased dramatically last week, adding 106 previously unreported hospitalizations! Today the TOTAL numbers increased by 2, total of 535 hospitalized since the outbreak began. For manual calculation of total, see age group stats below.
ICU Beds – The County reported fewer ICU beds available today, down from 57% to 52%. (Still no information about availability of ventilators.)

Positive Test Rate – alarming 8.1%

Solano County reported that our 7-day average test rate rose today to a rate unseen since the outbreak following July 4. Our rate rose from 7.2% to an alarming 8.1% today. Average percent positive test rates are among the best metrics for measuring the spread of the virus. The much lower and more stable California 7-day average test rate has been on the rise lately, increasing today from 3.4% to 3.6%. (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.)