Tag Archives: Dixon CA

Dr. Matyas: We’re assuming you are going to get together with family and friends…

July 31, 2020 Roger Straw

How Solano County is approaching private gatherings differently

While avoiding public gatherings, Solano County Public Health recognizes it is important for people’s mental health to interact with others.

ABC10 News Sacramento, July 30, 2020

SOLANO COUNTY, Calif. — In several counties across the Sacramento region, private gatherings are being blamed for the recent rise in coronavirus cases.

However, Solano County Public Health Director Dr. Bela Matyas said his department recognizes that it is not healthy to tell people to avoid their friends and family.

“Honestly, it’s not a really good message,” Matyas said. “It’s not a message that really tends to work for anyone.”

In the county’s most recent newsletter, the public health department said that while the risk of exposure is higher with every gathering, people need human interaction for their mental health. While Matyas, like other health officials, have said gathering with friends and family put people at risk, the county would prefer if people do plan to gather, they do it in the safest possible way.

“We’re assuming you are going to get together with family and friends; when you do, please do the following things to protect people,” Matyas said.

Practice social distancing, including wearing a mask, if possible.
Have your elder relatives stay at home and connect with them over the phone or through video messaging services like Zoom, Facetime, and Facebook Messenger.
Gather outdoors instead of inside.
Have fewer people gather together to minimize the number of people potentially exposed.
Avoid sharing food or utensils.
Avoid singing, chanting or shouting.

“The whole idea here is we know that the virus is transmitting on our respiratory droplets, so what can you do to minimize that transmission even though we are together,” Matyas said. “It’s not perfect — I don’t want to pretend its perfect — but in an imperfect world, it is the best we are able to come up with.”

Solano County has seen a slight drop in the number of new cases reported each day recently, but is still working to keep its total number of coronavirus cases from rising. Currently, the county has reported 3,520 cases with 250 active cases from the last ten days.

Coronavirus, Covid 19, Solano County CA

Solano COVID report – 58 new cases today, only 5 youths

July 30, 2020 Roger Straw

UPDATE: See today’s latest information

[NOTE: Solano County publishes a DAILY update, and displays past weeks and months in epidemic curve charts. However, the curve charts do not display an accurate number of cases for the most recent days, as there is a lag time in receiving test results. This methodology is accurate in a way, but it misleads the public by consistently displaying a recent downward curve which is corrected upward on a later date. For a complete archive of day by day data, see my Excel ARCHIVE – R.S.]

Thursday, July 30: 58 new cases today, no new deaths. Since the outbreak started: 3,520 cases, 37 deaths.

Compare previous report, Wednesday July 29:Summary

Solano County reported 58 new cases today, total of 3,520 cases since the outbreak started. Over the last 7 days, Solano reported 450 new cases, an average of 64 per day.
Deaths – no new deaths today, total of 37 deaths.
Active cases – Solano reported 1 fewer ACTIVE case today, total of 250. Last week Solano hit a record high of 440 active cases. Note that only 40 of these 250 people are hospitalized, so there are a lot of infected folks out among us, hopefully quarantined. One wonders… is the County equipped to contact trace so many infected persons? (See SF Chronicle report on contact tracing in Bay Area – “Solano County did not respond”.)
Hospitalizations –10 fewer currently hospitalized persons today, total of 40. No change in the total number hospitalized since the outbreak started, 162. (The County no longer reports Total Hospitalized, but I have added the hospitalization numbers in the Age Group chart.) For the 4th day in a row, the County offers no information about ICU beds and ventilators. Apparently, the County does not collect or receive this data from our hospitals, but relies on data collected by the State. You would think that when the County gathers data on Currently Hospitalized they could also easily collect the ICU bed and ventilator data. Or… ??
Testing – 495 residents were tested since yesterday, total of 52,057. But we still have a long way to go: only 11.6% of Solano County’s 447,643 residents (2019) have been tested.

Percent Positive Test Rate

Solano County reported today’s 7-day percent positive test rate is down from 6.5% yesterday to 5.8% today. (The chart may be misleading – see NOTE at top of this page.) The County posted
a record high of 9.3% last week. CONTEXT: California’s 7-day positivity rate is reported today at 7.0%. Increasingly, health officials and news reports are focusing on percent positive test rates. This information is immediately important, as test positivity is one of the best metrics for measuring the spread of the virus. Positive test rates in California and other southwestern states have been on the rise.

By Age Group

Youth 17 and under – 5 new cases today, total of 353 cases. No new hospitalizations, only 2 hospitalizations since the outbreak began. A week ago, there were 315 cases among this age group – we’ve seen 38 new cases in 7 days. I continue to raise an alarm for Solano’s youth. Cases among Solano youth have increased to 10% of the 3,520 total confirmed cases.
Persons 18-49 years of age – 40 new cases today, total of 2,151 cases. This age group represents 61% of the 3,520 total cases, by far the highest percentage of all age groups. The County reported no new hospitalizations in this age group today, total of 45 hospitalized since the outbreak began, and no new deaths among this age group, total of 3 deaths.
Persons 50-64 years of age – 9 new cases today, total of 672 cases. This age group represents over 19% of the 3,520 total cases. The County reported no new hospitalizations in this age group today, total of 51 hospitalized since the outbreak began, and no new deaths among this age group, total of 4 deaths.
Persons 65 years or older – 4 new cases today, total of 343 cases. This age group represents nearly 10% of the 3,520 total cases. No new hospitalizations, total of 64 hospitalized since the outbreak began. No new deaths, total of 30. In this older age group, nearly 19% of cases required hospitalization at one time, a substantially higher percentage than in the lower age groups. This group accounts for 30 of the 37 deaths, or 81%.

City Data

Benicia added 2 new cases today, total of 82 cases. Benicia was extremely stable with only 2 new cases in the month of June. Now Benicia has seen 14 new cases in 7 days.
Dixon added 2 new cases today, total of 185 cases.
Fairfield added 14 new cases today, total of 1,162.
Rio Vista remained steady today, total of 26 cases.
Suisun City added 6 new cases today, total of 259 cases.
Vacaville added 15 new cases today, total of 611 cases.
Vallejo added 19 new cases today, total of 1,183 cases. Vallejo has added 171 cases in the last 7 days – a major outbreak? Vallejo replaced Fairfield this week with more positive cases than anywhere in Solano County.
Unincorporated areas – Unincorporated areas remained steady today, total of 12 cases.

Race / Ethnicity

The County report on race / ethnicity 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 21% of cases, 25% of hospitalizations and 27% of deaths.
Black Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 13% of cases, but 23% of hospitalizations, and 30% of deaths.
Latinx Americans are 26% of Solano’s population, but account for 30% of cases, 32% of hospitalizations, and 24% of deaths.
Asian Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 9% of cases and 12% of hospitalizations, but 15% 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 COVID – UPDATED report for Wednesday, July 29 – 1 new death, another senior

July 30, 2020 Roger Straw

UPDATE: See today’s latest information

July 30, 2020, 2:00pm

The Solano County COVID-19 Dashboard was not available at the usual time on Wednesday evening, so I was unable to post my usual report in a timely fashion. Here is an updated report based on the County’s revised posting. – R.S.

Wednesday, July 29: 74 new cases today,
1 new death. Since the outbreak started: 3,462 cases, 37 deaths.