COVID19.CA.GOV offers the best up to date information on the coronavirus in Solano County, in most respects even better than the daily update by the Solano County Public Health Department. (Case count by city is only available on the Solano County COVID19 Dashboard.)
The hospitalization details below are current as of now, and will be automatically updated here on the Benicia Independent with each new day’s report from CA.GOV.
Hover your mouse over items to see detailed data, including numbers on a given date.
The Solano County summary dashboard has failed to display numbers so far this week for Currently Hospitalized patients. (However, see below for details found on the Solano dashboard’s graph chart.)
This morning, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that we have 61 patients in the hospital as of yesterday, Tues Nov 24. This represents an increase of 10 patients since the County’s last report on Fri Nov 20. See details below.
Even better, the State of California covid19.ca.gov reported that Solano had 63 patients in the hospital as of Tues Nov 24, which would indicate an increase of 12 patients since Solano last reported. This report also contains important information on suspected cases and ICU beds. See details below.
Santa Clara, Solano counties worry COVID-19 patients soon will overwhelm hospitals
COVID hospitalizations spiking in some counties: Two Bay Area counties have more patients hospitalized with COVID-19 now than at any other time in the pandemic, raising concerns that they will be overwhelmed if cases climb as expected after Thanksgiving. Solano County had 61 COVID-19 patients in hospitals as of Tuesday — four more than the peak in the summer surge. Santa Clara County had 201 patients, five more than the summer high. In the Bay Area, 614 people were hospitalized, well below the summer peak of 815, but a 39% increase over just the past week.
covid19.ca.gov shows Solano with 63 currently hospitalized patients as of Wed Nov 24
…additional details:
63 currently hospitalized COVID patients
11 more suspected cases who are currently hospitalized, for a possible total of 74 currently hospitalized COVID patients
15 COVID patients in ICU beds (and 2 additional suspected COVID patients in ICU beds), possible total of 17
12 ICU beds remaining available
Solano County dashboard on hospitalizations: no summary number, but delayed reporting is visible on graph chart
For months, I have relied on a simple numerical representation of current hospitalizations on Solano County’s daily COVID update. For the first time this week, that box has shown “No Value.” The dashboard also has a graphic chart of current hospitalizations, but it shows delayed results, so I have quit relying on it. In fact I hadn’t even looked at it for a long time. When I remembered, I checked yesterday’s graph, and sure enough, it does show some new information. Here’s the graph from yesterday, presented on the Solano County COVID dashboard at around 4pm.
On the dashboard only, not on this screenshot, if you hover over each day’s point on the graph, you will get a small popup showing the County’s number of currently hospitalized patients on that date. Hospitalizations have been on a very steep climb lately. The most recent date shows Sat Nov 21 with 59 COVID patients hospitalized, an increase of 8 over the 51 reported on Fri Nov 20.
Dr. Matyas responds to my request for daily updates on TOTAL hospitalizations since the pandemic began
By Roger Straw, September 28, 2020
Background
Roger Straw, The Benicia Independent
On September 24, I wrote to Dr. Bela Matyas, asking him to restore a TOTAL count of COVID hospitalizations since the pandemic began:
Please consider this request: From the earliest days of the pandemic and through July 10, the County’s COVID dashboard showed Total Hospitalizations.
Beginning on July 13, the dashboard only shows Current Hospitalizations. The daily change in Current Hospitalizations must be the difference between admissions and discharges, plus or minus, which is important to know.
However, the public needs to also know how many NEW admissions on a daily basis in order to accurately understand spread. This can easily be seen in the daily update of Total Hospitalizations.
Please consider restoring Total Hospitalizations to the COVID dashboard.
Dr. Matyas sent the following reply on September 27:
Dr. Bela Matyas, Solano County Public Health Officer
“The daily change in total hospitalizations does not faithfully represent new hospitalizations; the majority of added hospitalizations day over day is from reconciliation of previously hospitalized cases that we learn about in arrears. It is likely to be a substantially under-reported number.
Hospitalization is not a reportable condition on an individual level; hospital capacity is the condition that we are monitoring, and total hospitalizations per day is the relevant metric. Reporting total hospitalizations to date on a daily basis would be a misleading indicator for tracking new hospitalizations both because of the timing of reports and the under-reporting of hospitalizations.”
My response today:
Dr. Matyas – Thank you for your response to my email. With respect, I think I disagree. Regardless whether a daily update of TOTAL hospitalizations since the outbreak began includes ONLY new hospitalizations TODAY or both new TODAY and “newly learned in arrears” hospitalizations, the metric of total hospitalizations (and a 7 or 14 day average graph showing the curve of that metric) would be of great significance in understanding the overall spread of the most serious cases.
This daily increase, whether learned in arrears or not, is important for the public’s awareness. MOST IMPORTANTLY, reporting on hospitalizations in this way might help in cautioning the public to take seriously the continuing need for masks, social distancing, hand washing, etc. As our public health officer, I’d hope you might stop and think about this again. Seems it wouldn’t hurt the cause at all to add this metric to the County’s COVID dashboard, and shouldn’t be too hard to calculate the data as I have been doing, working from the AGE GROUP data.
I will continue to add together the newly reported daily reported increase of hospitalizations in the AGE GROUP data in order to determine the daily increase in TOTAL hospitalizations. And I will continue to let the public know.
Roger Straw
Benicia
Click the image for Solano County COVID-19 Updates and Resources
Dr. Mark Ghaly flagged “early signs” that state’s progress has shifted slightly: hospitalizations could rise from 2,578 patients now to 4,864 by late October
Dr. Mark Ghaly, Secretary of California’s Health and Human Services Department, addressed the state’s COVID-19 response in a Zoom broadcast Tuesday. (YouTube. July 21, 2020)
California could see an 89% increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations by the next month if coronavirus infections continue apace, a top state health official warned Friday.
Short-term forecasts indicate that hospitalizations could skyrocket from the 2,578 patients now hospitalized to 4,864 by this time in October, said California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly during a Friday press briefing — a signal that Californians should stay vigilant as more parts of the economy open up.
“As we see these trend lines, which have been coming down and flattening, look like they’re coming up … we want to sound that bell for all of you,” Ghaly said. “We want to see us respond as a state to those slight increases.”
Although Ghaly praised the state’s “significant progress” in infection and hospitalization rates since mid-July — when a peak 7,170 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized — he flagged early signs that the state’s progress has begun to shift. Starting in mid-September, Ghaly said, infection rates have risen slightly across the state, while coronavirus-related emergency room visits have also climbed.
Although overall lower case rates have allowed many counties to reopen businesses within Gov. Gavin Newsom’s reopening system, the virus’ reproduction number has surpassed 1.0 in some regions, Ghaly said. Twenty-five of California’s 58 counties remain in the red or “widespread” tier, with another 19, including most of the Bay Area, in the purple or “substantial” tier, allowing for movie theaters and restaurants to welcome customers indoors at limited capacity.
Keeping case rates low means that the virus’ reproductive value has less of a dramatic effect on potential hospitalizations, Ghaly said — especially with the double whammy of flu season looming. But with more cases overall, “you can see how quickly case rates go up and how quickly that creates additional pressure on our hospitals,” he added.
Statewide, however, there was little change in the seven-day average of new infections and fatalities reported as of Friday. Both figures remained lower than where they were two weeks ago and significantly below their respective peaks. The 3,274 new cases and 85 deaths reported by county health departments Thursday kept each seven-day average about even — just over 3,500 cases and just below 84 deaths per day over the past week, according to data compiled by this news organization.
Ghaly’s hospitalization projection, meanwhile, would put the state on par with its Aug. 19 hospitalizations, when 4,890 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 — more than 2,000 people fewer than the state’s peak a month earlier.
“As Californians we’ve done a good job to avoid those situations, and we want to keep our guard up,” Ghaly said.
COVID19.CA.GOV offers the best up to date information on the coronavirus in Solano County, in most respects even better than the daily update by the Solano County Public Health Department. (Case count by city is only available on the Solano County COVID19 Dashboard.)
You must be logged in to post a comment.