Category Archives: Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson

Benicia Independent, Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Solano County Health Officer Bela Matyas, Youth

Solano County Public Health Officer answers questions about increasing number of youth with COVID-19

June 2, 2020 Roger Straw

By Roger Straw, June 2, 2020

Are young people the main carriers for Covid-19? – NJ MMA News, photo: Getty Images

On May 27, I asked Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson to ask Solano Public Health Officer Dr. Bela Matyas a number of questions about recent increases in the number of our youth who are showing up positive for COVID-19. The Mayor passed my questions on to Dr. Matyas that day, and on May 31, he replied with answers to all eight questions – see below.

BACKGROUND:

Solano County is reporting an upward trend in confirmed cases among young persons 18 and under, adding (as of today) 26 more positive cases over the last 20 days, having reported only 6 over the 5 weeks prior. (Latest update…)

MY QUESTIONS & DR. MATYAS’ ANSWERS…

How serious are these youth cases?
- The youth cases are mostly asymptomatic, although a few have been mildly symptomatic.
How old – teens or young children?
- While we have had a few young children, most of the youth are older teenagers.
Any of them hospitalized?
- None have been hospitalized to date.
Are any of them showing symptoms of the “pediatric multi-system inflammatory syndrome likely linked to COVID”? (See Nearly 200 Cases of Severe Child COVID Syndrome…in NY, NJ)
- None so far.
Surely the increase can be partially explained away as a result of more testing, but that doesn’t mean the numbers are any less serious. Right?
- The increased numbers are apparently the result of increased testing of asymptomatic household contacts of cases and testing of asymptomatic persons at the recently opened Optum sites in Vallejo and Vacaville; we are likely uncovering a phenomenon that has been present all along. As to seriousness, the percentage of positive youths we are seeing seems to match statewide and national numbers. These individuals, while not themselves experiencing serious illness, are nonetheless able to spread the virus to others.
Is the County conducting contact tracing for these youth?
- Yes, just as for all positive cases.
Does the County have sufficient staffing for contact tracing?
- So far, yes.
What can the County and cities do to intensify communication with our young people and parents?
- Presumably, utilizing social media and school-based communication systems.

SO NOW WHAT?

I sincerely hope that parents and youth reading this will take note, and that the County and its cities and school districts will intensify communication about the serious reality of COVID-19 transmission among youth, and from youth to their elders.

Benicia City Council, Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson, Climate emergency, Greenhouse gas emissions

Benicia City Council unanimously adopts Climate Emergency Resolution

May 24, 2020 Roger Straw

Benicia Herald, by Galen Kusic, Editor, May 24, 2020 (No link, only available in the print edition.)

Climate Emergency - Greenpeace International — Climate Emergency – Greenpeace International

At the Sept. 3, 2019 Council meeting the City Council agreed to discuss a request from Mayor Elizabeth Patterson considering the adoption of a Climate Emergency Resolution. The request was discussed again on Feb. 4 at a Special City Council meeting, where a subcommittee was formed consisting of Councilmembers Tom Campbell and Steve Young.

[BENINDY EDITOR’S NOTE: See the proposed resolution here, noting that this does not contain Council’s amendments. I have requested the amended resolution and will post it when it is released by the City Clerk. See also the accompanying Staff Report here.]

“The world’s changed since I first brought this forward,” said Patterson. “Who would have guessed…it is actually very interesting for us to contemplate this kind of situation with a pandemic which has been described as one of the consequences of climate warming.”

Cities are adopting these resolutions to end city-wide greenhouse gas emissions. The resolution highlights the need to combat climate change, including that Benicia is specifically vulnerable to sea-level rise, storm surge and coastal erosion, which are all enhanced by extreme weather events that cause increased flooding.

The resolution declares that an existential climate emergency threatens Benicia, the region, state, nation, civilization, humanity and the natural world. The resolution calls for a city-wide mobilization effort to reverse global warming and appropriate financial and regulatory assistance from Solano County, state and federal authorities to end city-wide greenhouse gas emissions while safely drawing down carbon from the atmosphere quickly.

“I think we saw this as more of a global aspirational document,” said Young. “The only thing we wanted to change in it was to localize it to some degree.”

The subcommittee added a clause at the end for the city to promote a more sustainable future, like eventually moving to an all-electric fleet.

Vice Mayor Christina Strawbridge and Councilmember Lionel Largaespada both asked for small amendments to the resolution, including not making undue burdens on businesses to attain reduction of greenhouse gas, while implementing policies that are economically feasible.

The resolution is designed to protect the community’s health and safety while also protecting and enhancing the environment.

A resident’s public comment stated that the council should not be focusing on climate change during a pandemic, but Patterson shot back that the pandemic is exactly why immediate action needs to be taken toward combating the climate emergency.

“We now from the early science of COVID-19 that one of the principle challenges for recovery and surviving an infection, particularly in older people, is the air quality,” she said. “We know there’s a direct link to our goal to reduce carbon which contributes to air quality.”

The council unanimously voted for the resolution.

Benicia CA, Benicia City Manager, Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department

Clarification: Solano County COVID-19 curve rising? Or flattening?

April 9, 2020 Roger Straw

By Roger Straw, April 9, 2020

I’m confused.

The Solano County Health department reports out daily Mon-Fri with an excellent accounting of COVID-19 updates. Here’s a screenshot of their most recent report:

In my daily coverage, I’ve highlighted the daily increase in Total Confirmed Cases (112 above). I’ve also paid a lot of attention to the dramatic rise in the yellow curve shown in the graph at bottom, center, “Cumulative number of cases on the date reported to Solano Public Health”.

My daily observation has been, “Our coronavirus curve is on a steep uphill climb! Everyone stay home and be safe!”

Here’s the problem: Yesterday our Benicia City Manager, Lorie Tinfow, echoed the Solano County Public Health Officer, Dr. Bela Matyas, beginning her otherwise excellent press release with these words: “As we see the curve of new COVID-19 cases begin to flatten,…”

Stop. What? The curve is flattening? I have been critical of our County Health department, but I trust our Benicia City Manager. What does she know that I don’t know?

I wrote to Ms. Tinfow pointing out the apparent contradiction, and copied my email to Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson, another public official whom I trust. The Mayor was quick to reply, writing, “I think they might be referring to “active” cases. The number of cases is increasing for the most part because of delayed test results (up to 12 days). We have 35 active cases and the hospitalization and ICU rates are not increasing rapidly. Overall, there is a less than 4% increase in active [cases], hospitalization and ICU. So the message, I think, is sheltering at home is working and don’t blow its by mingling for Easter and Passover.”

This MIGHT make sense. I wanted to see for myself, so I created the following chart. You will notice the red columns track the DAILY CHANGES.There are indeed differences in the daily change rates shown in the columns above. While total confirmed cases and new cases have been increasing, the change in the daily number of active cases has remained relatively stable. Similarly, the change in hospitalizations doesn’t vary much from day to day.

So… to clarify, I guess… Solano County is continuing to see daily increases in the disease among us, but it may not be rising as fast as the little yellow line in the graph would suggest.

The data is still pretty young. That is, the sample in my chart above only covers a period of just over 2 weeks. If the experts say the curve is flattening here in Solano County, well, ok.

There are two extremely important take-aways, though:

1. We have a long way to go – social distancing is incredibly important. Stay at home!
2. When any community hits the curve’s apex, it’s far from over. As one tv doctor put it, the day after the apex is still the second worst day of the crisis! Be prepared for more cases, and possibly more deaths here in Solano County.

Benicia City Council, Benicia Climate Action Plan, Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson, Climate emergency

Benicia City Council to consider Climate Emergency Resolution Tues, Feb 4, 4pm

February 2, 2020 Roger Straw

Quarterly Study Session to discuss five requests made by Council members

You may want to attend! Benicia’s City Council will meet with staff and the public on Wednesday, to consider five action items requested previously, in context of overall Council priorities. See complete list with links more below.

Of particular interest will be item 4, “Two-Step Request from Mayor Patterson on adopting a Climate Emergency Resolution“. Mayor Patterson submitted this request last summer, with a requested Initial Council Meeting date of July 16, 2019. The “Emergency” request was not brought for Council’s First Step consideration until September 3, 2019. At that meeting, after hearing support from residents Constance Beutel, Marilyn Bardet, Gretchen Burgess, Steve Goetz, Pat Toth-Smith and Kathy Kerridge, Council discussed the request and recommended that it be brought forward for further study “at a future workshop”. (see item 14.B in the 9/3/19 minutes). So that next step is this Tuesday.

(Editor’s note: I am not sure, but my review of the Staff Report and Rules of Procedure seem to suggest that Tuesday’s Study Workshop is NOT to be considered the Second Step in our Two-Step procedure. A Council member’s request for DISCUSSION and action on a City “policy matter” requires two yes votes at Council.)

For more on Climate Emergency, including background on Benicia’s consideration, see Benicia Independent on climate emergency. Also see Mayor Patterson’s highly informative E-Alert from September 4, 2019.

From the 1/4/2020 agenda on the City website:

10.A – QUARTERLY POLICY ISSUES STUDY SESSION (City Manager)

The City Council has agreed to discuss various “Two-Step” requests made by individual members of the City Council at the Quarterly Policy Issues Study Session described in the City Council Rules of Procedure (Attachment 1).

To assist with Council deliberations, staff has included an updated copy of the Council’s priorities for the current fiscal year as summarized in the Work Plan 2019-20 (Attachment 2).

Five topics have been approved by the Council for further discussion and are presented in this report (Attachments 3-7); they follow:

1. Penalties for Excessive Residential Water Use;
2. Adoption of a Climate Emergency Resolution;
3. Preparation of an Advisory Measure related to Cannabis Dispensaries for the November 2020 ballot;
4. Installation of Rainbow Crosswalks; and
5. A request to Repurpose and Update the Traffic, Bicycle & Pedestrian Safety Committee.

Recommendation: Review the two-step process and the updated Work Plan 2019-20, and then discuss each of the five topics described (Attachments 3-7) and provide direction to staff.

Staff Report – Quarterly Policy Issues Study Session

The Benicia Independent ~ Eyes on the Environment / Benicia news & views