Tag Archives: Face coverings

#wearamask, Benicia CA, Benicia City Council, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Face coverings, Omicron variant, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine, Vaccine mandate

Solano reports 177 new COVID hospitalizations and 4 deaths – Benicia sees 107 new cases in last 7 days

NOTE: The information below is not the latest.  TAP HERE for today’s latest information.

By Roger Straw, Monday, February 14, 2022

Solano County offices were expected to be closed again today, Feb. 15 for Washington’s birthday.  Surprisingly – and fortunately – Solano Public Health was able to post an update on its COVID dashboard this evening – its first since last Wed, Feb. 9.  – R.S.

Solano County reporting 1,095 new COVID infections, 177 hospitalizations and 4 deaths.  Solano County and Benicia continue to experience an extremely high transmission rate!

Solano Public Health COVID dashboard, Monday, February 14, 2022:

DEATHS:  Solano reported 4 new deaths in today’s report, all over 65 years of age.  Trending: Eleven new deaths reported so far in February, all over 65 years of age.  The County has seen increasing COVID-related deaths each month since last November, rising to 30 in January.  (Compare with last winter: 24 deaths in January 2021, 42 in February and 33 in March.)  A total of 392 Solano residents have now died of COVID or COVID-related causes over the course of the pandemic.

CASES BY AGE GROUP: My color-coded chart (below) shows a record over time.  It shows an alarming steady increase among youth and children in Solano County.  The chart displays quarterly and recent snapshots in time by age group, each as a percentage of total cases since the outbreak began.  Increases are in red and decreases are in green as reported by Solano County.  Note the continuing increase among children & youth of Solano County.  The population of those age 0-17 in Solano County is roughly 22%.COMPARE – U.S. cases among children and youth aged 0-17 as percentage of total cases is 17.5% as of today.  (From the CDC covid-data-tracker.)

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Solano is experiencing an EXTREMELY HIGH transmission rate, with a total of 3,889 new cases over the last 7 days, down from 4,010 at last report, but still way up from around 500 at Christmastime.  CDC FORMULA: Based on Solano County’s population, 450 or more cases in 7 days places Solano in the CDC’s population-based definition of a HIGH transmission rate.  We would need to drop below 225 cases in 7 days to rate as having only MODERATE community transmission.

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 1,523 ACTIVE cases today is down from 2,517 at last report, our lowest since January 10, but still way up from the County’s 329 active cases on last December 1.

CASES BY CITY – Monday, February 14, 2022 (5 days since Solano’s last report):

  • BENICIA added 49 new cases today, a total of 2,971 cases since the outbreak began.  TRANSMISSION RATE: Benicia has seen 107 new infections in the last 7 days, far above the CDC’s HIGH rate of community transmission. For a city with Benicia’s population, anything over 27 cases in 7 days is considered HIGH TRANSMISSION. (See chart below.)  MASKS: >> At tomorrow’s Benicia City Council meeting, (Tues., Feb. 15), Council will consider whether and how to continue the citywide face mask mandate, in light of the State of California’s announcement that it will lift the statewide mandate on Feb. 16. >>Note that the Benicia City Council is considering adding multiple metrics rather than the single metric of the CDC’s 7-day case count to determine when it is safe to lift certain COVID restrictions (see Benicia Chooses to Continue Mask Mandate, 1/19/22).  Note above that Solano County is currently also experiencing EXTREMELY HIGH transmission.

  • Dixon added 50 new cases today, total of 4,070 cases.
  • Fairfield added 314 new cases today, total of 20,663 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 9 new cases today, total of 1,049 cases.
  • Suisun City added 77 new cases today, total of 5,456 cases.
  • Vacaville added 303 new cases today, a total of 19,009 cases.
  • Vallejo added 293 new cases today, a total of 24,344 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 0 new cases today, a total of 188 cases.

TEST RATE:  Solano County’s 7-Day Percent Positive Test Rate shot up after Christmas and has continued through today’s very high 15%, (although today’s report shows a drop from 19% at last report and has fallen steadily from a high of 36% on Jan. 19.)  Even so, SOLANO DOES NOT COMPARE FAVORABLY: The California 7-day % positive rate fell from 6.7% to 6.0% today.  [Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking Center]  AND the U.S. 7-day % positive rate also fell today from 13.63% to 10.59%. [Source: CDC COVID Data Tracker.] 

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations fell today from 80 to 72 persons.  Currently hospitalized persons in Solano peaked higher than ever before on Jan 22, at 207 persons in hospital. (The County’s previous high was 176 on Jan 7, 2021.)

TOTAL hospitalizations – Solano Public Health played catch-up today, dramatically updating its age and race hospitalizations charts today, adding 177 persons.  Of the 177, 4 were under age 18, 50 were age 18-49, 34 were age 50-64, and 89 were age 65+.  (Hospitalization by race data is often not reported.) Our total since the beginning of the outbreak is now 3,689 Solano residents hospitalized.

ICU Bed Availability in Solano County dropped slightly today from 21% to 20% available, in the Yellow danger zone.

Ventilator Availability  rose slightly today from 51% to 52% available. 

HOW DOES TODAY’S REPORT COMPARE?  See recent reports and others going back to April 20, 2020 in my ARCHIVE of daily Solano COVID updates (an excel spreadsheet).

>The data on this page is from the Solano County COVID-19 Dashboard.  The Dashboard is full of much more information and updated Monday, Wednesday and Friday around 4 or 5pm.  On the County’s dashboard, you can hover a mouse or click on an item for more information.  Note the tabs at top for “Summary, Demographics” and “Vaccines.”  Click here to go to today’s Solano County Dashboard.

See also my BENINDY ARCHIVE of daily Solano COVID updates (an excel spreadsheet).  I have also archived the hundreds of full CORONAVIRUS REPORTS posted here almost daily on the Benicia Independent since April 2020.

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#wearamask, Benicia CA, Benicia City Council, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Face coverings, Omicron variant, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine, Vaccine mandate

Convergence of Solano County office closures and need for current COVID information

NOTE: The information below is not the latest.  TAP HERE for an update on Solano County’s February holiday closure.
By Roger Straw, February 13, 2022

Solano County offices were closed last Friday and will be closed again tomorrow, Monday – for Lincoln’s and Washington’s birthdays. So there was no COVID dashboard update on Friday, and surely will be none on Monday.  (It’s weird, but the County will NOT be closed on the national holiday, Feb. 19.)

Missing data…

The convergence of the office closures on the Friday and Monday before Benicia City Council’s Tues Feb 15 consideration of mask mandate is highly problematic. We will have to find other sources for current information on various COVID metrics. Not sure how/where to get good info, but I’ll be looking!

I have asked Benicia City Council members and Staff to be in touch with Dr. Matyas with a special request for current information. No idea if they will be successful.  Current data is so important for the public if we are to make informed comments at Council on Tues. Feb 15.

Tuesday’s Council meeting starts at 7pm, and here’s the Agenda.  See item 21B. on page 9.

Roger Straw
The Benicia Independent

#wearamask, Benicia CA, Benicia City Council, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Face coverings, Hospital capacity, Hospitalizations, ICU, Mandatory face coverings, Masks, Positive test rate, Vaccine, Ventilator

Dr. Richard Fleming: Letter to Benicia City Council on Benicia’s Mask Mandate

February 11, 2022
By Benicia’s Dr. Richard Fleming
(posted here with permission)

Dear Council members and Mr. Upson – Should Benicia lift its current indoor mask mandate?

My recommendation is: Not yet, but hopefully soon.
Richard Fleming, M.D., Benicia, CA

Our state is lifting the statewide mask mandate February 15. Most Bay Area counties will be lifting their indoor mask mandates the week of February 14, 2022, though the specific approach varies. Some counties will require that unvaccinated people continue to wear masks in indoor public spaces, and that masks are still required by all in some indoor spaces.

There is clearly a strong desire to return to normal life and social interactions after two years of this pandemic. There are objective signs the pandemic may be on the cusp of turning into an endemic situation, given increasing vaccination rates and increasing natural immunity. But it is apparent that different geographic areas are in different stages of moving towards endemicity. And it is also clear from our collective experience over the past two years that it is not unusual to see viral spread increase after public health restrictions are lifted in defined geographic areas.

Given these two realities, I feel our city should proceed in a measured way – relying on objective data which gives the most accurate available picture of the current state of the pandemic in our city – in deciding when to lift the indoor mask mandate. This mandate, it should be noted, has been supported and complied with by the vast majority of city residents and visitors to our city. It would be tempting to yield to feelings of exhaustion with the pandemic, but doing so may lead to policy changes we come to regret.

*    *    *

When our city council put in place the current mask mandate on August 25, 2021, it decided to use an objective metric to decide when this mandate could be lifted. When case rates in Benicia stayed in the CDC-defined moderate transmission level for 30 consecutive days, masking would no longer be required. Subsequent discussions in the council have considered using more than one metric to make a mandate-lifting decision, but no decision was made and goal numbers were not established.

Using several metrics would provide greater assurance about when it would be safe to lift the mask mandate. Any single metric has some intrinsic flaws, so a combination of several would provide a more accurate picture of the state of the pandemic in our city.

Under our current metric – case rate – we have too many cases per week to stop the mask policy. According to Resolution 21-88, we need to reach 27 or fewer cases weekly and maintain that for 30 days. We are currently at 100 new cases per week. Though this number is very high, it is trending downwards. For much of January, we were averaging 200-400 cases per week. Progress is being made, and there is reason to hope that in the weeks ahead, we will achieve a moderate level of transmission. (It is important to keep in mind the caveat that case numbers are increasingly inaccurate and reflect an undercount due to the growing use of home antigen tests. This is why adopting several metrics would provide greater accuracy.)

*    *    *

Other metrics that could be used include the following. I feel that in assessing this data, we look not just at current numbers, but at trend lines, since those can provide dynamic information on the trajectory of the virus.

  • Hospitalizations. We do not have Benicia-specific data, so Solano County data can be used as a proxy. The county is currently seeing 35 covid-19 hospitalizations per 100K residents, which is close to the highest level of the pandemic. More concerning is that our hospitalization rate is trending upwards. It has risen 48% compared to two weeks ago. Our hospitalizations are rising more rapidly than any Bay Area county other than Marin, whose hospitalization rate is only 21 per 100K. So, even though the official case-rate numbers are trending in a good direction, hospitalizations paint a more concerning picture of where our county stands.
  • Vaccination rate. Currently, 78.6% of city residents have gotten 2 shots of Moderna or Pfizer, or 1 shot of J&J. Of this number, 55% are boosted. So the proportion of city residents who are truly fully-vaccinated is 43.2%. (Boosters are proven to be crucial for optimal protection.) 35.4% of city residents received full initial vaccine doses but are not yet boosted. They do have greater immunity than unvaccinated people, or those who did not complete their initial vaccine series. There are many city residents who have some degree of natural immunity, but their level of protection is not clear. A significant proportion of people who report having recovered from covid have no detectable antibodies, and it is not clear how long antibodies persist in those with natural immunity. Bottom line, while our community’s immunity is increasing, a significant proportion of our residents remain highly susceptible to serious covid infection.

Comparing our city’s vaccination rate to nearby counties, 6 of the other 8 Bay Area counties have a higher percentage of their entire county vaccinated than does the city of Benicia. We are still lagging behind in what should be achievable vaccination levels.

  • Test positivity rate. No city data is available. Solano County’s positive test rate is 19%, compared to a statewide rate of 7%.
  • Hospital capacity, ICU bed availability, and ventilator availability. In these metrics, our county is doing fairly well, though it is also true our hospital staff and health care workers are under significant stress and are looking forward to the period when covid-19 becomes truly endemic, rather than aspirationally endemic.

*    *    *

Bottom line, I encourage you to maintain your commitment to using objective data to decide on when to lift the mask mandate. I recommend you adopt 3 metrics – cases, hospitalizations, and vaccination rates – as the data to look to. Choosing a goal for each metric, and requiring 2 of the 3 goals to be met over some period of time, would help maintain a safe environment for our city. I feel making the decision based on such measures would be widely-supported in our city. And, at whatever point you decide to lift the mandate, I recommend you also clearly advise our residents that indoor mask-wearing in public spaces is still appropriate and encouraged until the metrics improve even more, and that you also allow individual businesses to continue requiring masks of their own customers.

Sources for above data available upon request.

Thank you.

Richard Fleming, M.D.
Benicia

#wearamask, Benicia CA, Benicia City Council, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Face coverings, Omicron variant, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine, Vaccine mandate

COVID in Solano County: no report on Feb 11 and Feb 14 due to holiday closures

NOTE: The information below is not the latest.  TAP HERE for today’s latest information.

By Roger Straw, Saturday, February 12, 2022 – 11:45pm

Solano County usually updates its COVID-19 Dashboard between 4pm and 6pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but there was no Covid-19 dashboard update on Friday, Feb. 11.  County offices were closed for the Feb. 12 holiday in observance of President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, and will be closed again on Monday Feb. 15 for Washington’s birthday.  Check back here on Wednesday Feb. 17 after 6pm….  >> That’s an unfortunate gap in highly significant public information.  Maybe I can come up with other sources – stay tuned.  Meanwhile, I will repost my latest report below with the most recent Feb. 9 County numbers…

By Roger Straw, Wednesday, February 9, 2022

Solano County reported 2,794 new infections over the last two days!  Solano County and Benicia continue to experience an extremely high transmission rate!

Solano Public Health COVID dashboard, Wednesday, February 9, 2022:

DEATHS:  Solano reported no new deaths in today’s report.  Trending: Seven new deaths reported so far in February, all over 65 years of age.  The County has seen increasing COVID-related deaths each month since last November, rising to 30 in January.  (Compare with last winter: 24 deaths in January 2021, 42 in February and 33 in March.)  A total of 388 Solano residents have now died of COVID or COVID-related causes over the course of the pandemic.

CASES BY AGE GROUP: My color-coded chart (below) shows a record over TIME.  It shows an alarming steady increase among youth and children in Solano County.  The chart displays quarterly and recent snapshots in time by age group, each as a percentage of total cases since the outbreak began.  Increases are in red and decreases are in green as reported by Solano County.  Note the continuing increase among children & youth of Solano County.  The population of those age 0-17 in Solano County is roughly 22%.COMPARE – U.S. cases among children and youth aged 0-17 as percentage of total cases is 17.4% as of today.  (From the CDC covid-data-tracker.)

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Solano is experiencing an EXTREMELY HIGH transmission rate, with a total of 4,010 new cases over the last 7 days, a big jump from 1,763 at last report, and way up from around 500 at Christmastime.  CDC FORMULA: Based on Solano County’s population, 450 or more cases in 7 days places Solano in the CDC’s population-based definition of a HIGH transmission rate.  We would need to drop below 225 cases in 7 days to rate as having only MODERATE community transmission.

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 2,517 ACTIVE cases today is up from 2,308 at last report, and well over the 2,000 active cases we had at the New Year and only 329 on December 1.

CASES BY CITY – Wednesday, February 9, 2022:

  • BENICIA added 58 new cases today, a total of 2,922 cases since the outbreak began.  TRANSMISSION RATE: Benicia has seen 100 new infections in the last 7 days, far above the CDC’s HIGH rate of community transmission. For a city with Benicia’s population, anything over 27 cases in 7 days is considered HIGH TRANSMISSION. (See chart below.)  MASKS: >> At next week’s Benicia City Council meeting, (Tues., Feb. 15), Council will consider whether and how to continue the citywide face mask mandate, in light of the State of California’s announcement that it will lift the statewide mandate on Feb. 16. >>Note that the Benicia City Council is considering adding multiple metrics rather than the single metric of the CDC’s 7-day case count to determine when it is safe to lift certain COVID restrictions (see Benicia Chooses to Continue Mask Mandate, 1/19/22).  Note above that Solano County is currently also experiencing EXTREMELY HIGH transmission.

  • Dixon added 62 new cases today, total of 4,020 cases.
  • Fairfield added 1,247(!) new cases today, total of 20,349 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 27 new cases today, total of 1,040 cases.
  • Suisun City added 302(!) new cases today, total of 5,379 cases.
  • Vacaville added 443 new cases today, a total of 18,706 cases.
  • Vallejo added 653 new cases today, a total of 24,051 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 2 new cases today, a total of 188 cases.

TEST RATE:  Solano County’s 7-Day Percent Positive Test Rate shot up after Christmas and has continued through today’s very high 19%, (although today’s report shows a drop from 21% at last report.)  SOLANO DOES NOT COMPARE FAVORABLY: The California 7-day % positive rate fell to 6.7% today.  [Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking Center]  The U.S. 7-day % positive rate also fell today to 13.63% from 15.85% at last report. [Source: CDC COVID Data Tracker.] 

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations fell today from 87 to 80 persons.  Currently hospitalized persons in Solano peaked higher than ever before on Jan 22, at 207 persons in hospital. (The County’s previous high was 176 on Jan 7, 2021.)

TOTAL hospitalizations – Solano Public Health updated its age and race hospitalizations charts today, adding 1 Asian person, age 65+.  Our total since the beginning of the outbreak is now 3,512 hospitalizations.

ICU Bed Availability in Solano County remained steady today at 24% available, still in the Yellow danger zone.

Ventilator Availability  fell dramatically today from 64% to 51% available. 

HOW DOES TODAY’S REPORT COMPARE?  See recent reports and others going back to April 20, 2020 in my ARCHIVE of daily Solano COVID updates (an excel spreadsheet).

>The data on this page is from the Solano County COVID-19 Dashboard.  The Dashboard is full of much more information and updated Monday, Wednesday and Friday around 4 or 5pm.  On the County’s dashboard, you can hover a mouse or click on an item for more information.  Note the tabs at top for “Summary, Demographics” and “Vaccines.”  Click here to go to today’s Solano County Dashboard.

See also my BENINDY ARCHIVE of daily Solano COVID updates (an excel spreadsheet).  I have also archived the hundreds of full CORONAVIRUS REPORTS posted here almost daily on the Benicia Independent since April 2020.

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