Category Archives: Benicia CA

Benicia CA, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Elizabeth Patterson, Mandatory face coverings, Solano County Board of Supervisors, Solano County Health Officer Bela Matyas

Former Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson asks hard questions about Solano County health policies

Elizabeth Patterson: The real masking question

Vallejo Times-Herald Letters, September 2, 2021
Elizabeth Patterson, former Mayor of Benicia

The most important question asked the evening that Dr. Matyas, Solano County Public Health Officer, testified at the Benicia City Council was: “Where does the COVID virus come from that is spreading in all the homes and family gatherings, and parties?” The reason this question is critical is because Dr. Matyas claimed he was a scientist and not a politician, and that the “evidence” was clear COVID was surging in Solano County because of family gatherings and parties. And therefore, “masking up where the public gathered” such as in-door restaurants was not necessary.

This question — “Where does the virus come from that is spread at family gatherings? — is key to understanding that outside of spontaneous virus eruptions at family gatherings, the virus is caught someplace. The suggestion that it is just circulating among family and friends independent of exposure in stores or gyms is not scientific and lacks credibility.

Why then do we as a county not have masking requirements? At that same Benicia meeting and a subsequent press interview, Dr. Matyas explained that Benicia and Vallejo are more “Bay Area-like” and up county is more “Central Valley-like.” He went on to say this meant progressive against conservative ideological bases. And that is a reason he does not recommend the Solano County Board of Supervisors require masking.

Is this “let them get infected” rather than adopt the best strategy proven which is vaccinations, masking and avoiding long-term contact indoors? Does this mean that “fake COVID” cry scares officials? I’ve seen the meetings where the supervisors have endured anger and vitriol. In my experience, the way to deal with bullies is to do the right thing. The right thing is to reduce the spread of COVID by adopting proven strategies.

I like Dr. Matyas and understand his stated struggle communicating. That is his problem. Our problem is that we don’t have the best public health policies. That is the supervisors’ duty.

— Elizabeth Patterson/Former Benicia Mayor

See also:
Benicia CA, Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Coronavirus, Covid 19, Delta variant, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine

Solano reports another 3 deaths and a remarkable increase in COVID case numbers

By Roger Straw, Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Wednesday, September 1: Solano reports 1,044 new infections, 3 more deaths, soaring community transmission levels.

Solano County COVID dashboard SUMMARY:
[Sources: see below.]

DEATHS: 3 new deaths were reported today, 14 in the last two weeks. Today’s deaths included one of us age 50-64 and two 65+.  Today’s deaths included two Latinx persons and one White person.  Total Solano deaths over the course of the pandemic rose to 273.

CASES: The County reported  a whopping 1,044 new COVID cases in the last two days, 522 per day, our highest since January 25.

7-DAY CASE RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen 2,192 new cases, substantially over the CDC’s level for “High Community Transmission”.  Based on Solano County population of 449,432, the CDC would rate us in “Substantial” transmission with only 225 cases over the last 7 days.  Double that, or 450 cases in the last 7 days would rank us in “High” transmission.  Solano County’s 2,192 cases is NEARLY FIVE TIMES the CDC’s High rate of transmission!

YOUTH CASES: Case numbers also show a startling increase in the percentage of new cases among young persons age 0-17, increasing another two tenths of a percent to a new high of 13.7% of total cases.  That doesn’t sound like much until you consider that the percentage of youth cases increased very, very slowly over the course of the pandemic, starting below 6%, and only gradually reaching 12% in mid-April of 2021.  The percent of youth has jumped a full 0.7% since mid-August.

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 1,056 ACTIVE cases is down from Monday’s 1,097, but alarmingly up from 212 on July 2, and in the range we experienced during the deadly surge last winter.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Our 7-day average percent positivity rate was 13.8% today, down from 14.5% on Monday, but still well over the purple tier margin, nearly 4 times today’s California rate of 3.6% and over 1.25 times today’s U.S. rate of 10.8%. [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 down today from 143 to 127 persons, and still in the range we saw during the winter surge.

ICU Bed Availability was still shockingly low today at only 16% of ICU beds available, in the yellow danger zone.  This was up only slightly from Monday’s 13%.  We’ve not seen rates this low since January 2021.

Ventilator Availability was down today from 60% to 51%, and also continuing in the range we saw last winter.

TOTAL hospitalizations  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 updated its Hospitalizations charts today.  See the Age Group chart and the Race / Ethnicity chart below.  Interestingly, the total doesn’t square with the total by age groups.

FACE MASKS… Good News in Benicia

GOOD NEWS!  Last week, Benicia City Council passed a citywide indoors mask mandate. The Council heard opposition from Dr. Bela Matyas, and support from Dr. Bonnie Hamilton.  The public spoke almost entirely in favor of a mandate and included a number of medical professionals.  Councilmembers debated on various finer points, and passed the resolution on a 5-0 vote. The mandate went into effect immediately. Everyone 4 years old and up must now wear a mask indoors in public places, even those of us who are vaccinated.  The mask resolution, press release, and a flyer now appear on the City website.  For those interested in reviewing the Benicia City Council procedings of August 24, the video is posted on the City website, at benicia.granicus.com/player/clip/3528?view_id=1…. The mask mandate discussion begins around minute 23.

Benicia is 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, but all reports are that he intends not to do so. 

Please mask indoors in public places now, and maybe even indoors in crowded gatherings at home with vaccinated family and friends!  PLEASE talk to anyone you know who isn’t vaccinated.  This thing ain’t over yet!

Cases by City on Wednesday, September 1:
  • Benicia added 43 new cases today, a total of 1,319 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia is more than 3 times the CDC’s definition of HIGH community transmission level.  For details see Benicia far exceeding CDC’s measure of HIGH TRANSMISSION of COVID-19.  [Note that Solano County itself is rated in high transmission, and Solano’s 6 other cities are likely also individually experiencing high transmission.  The BenIndy does not have time to do all of their calculations just now.  Stay tuned.]
  • Dixon added 48 new cases today, total of 2,310 cases.
  • Fairfield added 270 new cases today, total of 11,226 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 13 new cases today, total of 518 cases.
  • Suisun City added 51 new cases today, total of 2,921 cases.
  • Vacaville added 322 new cases today, a total of 10,892 cases.
  • Vallejo added 294 new cases today, a total of 12,204 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 3 new cases today, a total of 131 cases (population figures not available).

Continue reading Solano reports another 3 deaths and a remarkable increase in COVID case numbers →

#Masks4All, #wearamask, Benicia CA, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Delta variant, Mandatory face coverings, Solano County Health Department, Vallejo CA

Vallejo Votes Yes on Mask Mandate

Solano’s biggest city joins Benicia, votes to go its own way

NBC Bay Area News, August 31, 2021

Vallejo Adopts Indoor Mask Mandate

Solano County is the only Bay Area county that still does not have a mask mandate, but on Tuesday, its biggest city voted to go its own way.

#Masks4All, #wearamask, Benicia CA, Benicia Mayor Steve Young, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Delta variant, Local Regulation, Mandatory face coverings, Solano County Health Department

‘We Could Not Wait for the County’: Benicia Passes Its Own Mask Mandate

KQED News: Benicia Breaks with Solano County on Masks

Steve Young, mayor of the City of Benicia, says it was important that the city’s mask mandate was unanimous. (Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)

KQED News, by Ericka Cruz Guevarra. Devin Katayama, and Alan Montecillo, Aug 30, 2021

In early August, eight Bay Area counties reinstated mask mandates in indoor public spaces due to the spread of the Delta variant. Solano County was the only one that didn’t.

Last week, the city of Benicia broke with the county by approving — by a unanimous city council vote — its own indoor mask mandate.

Today, we speak with the city’s mayor about this decision, and what it says about differences within Solano County.

Guest: Steve Young, Mayor of Benicia

TRANSCRIPT…

Ericka Cruz Guevarra: [00:00:00] I’m Erica Cruz Guevarra, and you’re listening to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted.  Mask requirements are pretty common here in the Bay Area, except where I’m at in Solano County, but last week the city of Benicia decided to break away with the rest of the county by passing its own indoor mascot mandate.

Steve Young: [00:00:23] If people had a different attitude about this thing, it would be done. We wouldn’t be having this conversation. We wouldn’t have people continuing to die all across the country. And it’s making it so partisan and political is not in anybody’s interest today.

[…continued…]