Category Archives: Coronavirus

Coronavirus, Covid 19, Solano County CA

Record high COVID numbers in Solano County on Thursday Dec 10

Highest single-day increase in new positive cases and in total currently active infections…

By Roger Straw, December 10, 2020

I think there’s a little-reported variation on the oft-heard “COVID fatigue.”  It’s COVID NUMBERS fatigue.

I watch the morning news and the evening news, and I can’t begin to count the times I’ve sat through the latest number of cases nationally and in California; the number of hospitalizations and deaths; PPEs and ventilators; the percentage of test rates… and more recently the percentage of available ICU beds by state, region and county….

And more.  Every day.  For months and months now.  I’m even sicker of it than you, given that I’ve reported the numbers in Solano County every day since April 20.  I keep being tempted to write a headline something to the effect of, “Broken Record – Solano numbers going bonkers again and still….”

Fatigue is real, but so is the need to pay attention and take care.

In this time of exploding numbers, NOW through mid-January at the least – please take extra precautions.  Stay home as much as you can, and make plans now for a different kind of Christmas, Hanukah and New Year celebration.  Wear a mask if you must go out, order groceries for pick-up or delivery, don’t stay long anywhere but home, and keep your distance more carefully than ever before.

Here are the Thursday numbers – take note!

[Source: Solano County Coronavirus Dashboard (posted on the County website late today, around 8:45pm).  For a complete archive of County updates, see my Excel ARCHIVE.  ALSO see important daily updates from the state of California at COVID19.CA.GOV, embedded here on the BenIndy at Cases and Deaths AND Hospitalizations AND ICU Beds by REGION.  Sorry, I can’t for the life of me explain the differences between Solano reporting and the State’s reporting….]

Thursday, December 10: 410 (!!) new cases overnight, 1 new death.  Since Feb: 12,533 cases, more than 600 hospitalized, 91 deaths.Compare previous report, Wednesday, Dec. 9:Summary

    • Solano County reported a record 410 (!!) new cases overnight, far and away the highest single-day increase in COVID cases ever in Solano County.  As of today, Solano has seen an average increase of 145 new cases per day over the last 14 days! (source: covid19.ca.gov)  Total of 12,533 cases since the outbreak started.
    • Deaths – 1 new death reported today, someone over 65 years of age, a total of 91 Solano deaths since the pandemic began.
    • Active cases – Solano reported 315 (!!) more active cases today.  New total of 1,553 active cases – another record high for Solano County.  The County has hit a new record high in 5 of the last 7 days!  Active cases are clearly increasing at an alarmingly rate lately – COMPARE: average number of Active Cases during October was 284, average in November was 650 – and TODAY we are at 1,553!  Is the County equipped to contact trace so many infected persons?  Who knows?  To my knowledge, Solano has offered no reports on contact tracing.
    • Hospitalizations – (For COVID19-CA.GOV info, see BenIndy page, COVID-19 Hospitalizations Daily Update for Solano County.)  CAUTION ON COUNTY REPORTING: According to Solano Health Officer Dr. Bela Matyas, the County occasionally updates Age Group hospitalizations retroactively, adding substantial numbers.  Thus, many hospitalizations are never reported as CURRENTLY hospitalized.  Today, Solano County reported the number of CURRENTLY hospitalized persons increased by 8, total of 86, but TOTAL hospitalized since the outbreak began supposedly remained unchanged today, a total of 603 of all ages hospitalized since the outbreak began.  The County will likely update these figures at a later date.  [For my manual calculation of total hospitalizations, see age group stats below.]
    • ICU Beds – (For COVID19-CA.GOV info see BenIndy page, COVID-19 Hospitalizations Daily Update for Solano County, and for REGIONAL data see COVID-19 ICU Bed Availability by REGION.)  The County reported no change in ICU beds available today, remaining at 32%, just out of the yellow danger zone.
    • Testing – The County reports today that 1,211 residents were tested overnight, a total of 142,619 unduplicated residents have now been tested for COVID-19 since the outbreak began.  31.9% of Solano County’s 447,643 residents (2019) have been tested.

Positive Test Rate – Sky high again at 15.2%

Solano County reported another high 7-day average positive test rate today of 15.2%, up from yesterday’s 12.8%, far and away over the State’s purple tier threshold of 8%.  Average percent positive test rates are among the best metrics for measuring community spread of the virus.  The much lower and more stable California 7-day average test rate has also been on the rise lately, but held steady today at 10.0%.  (Note that Solano County displays past weeks and months in a 7-day test positivity line graph which also shows daily results.  However, the chart does not display an accurate number of cases for the most recent days, as there is a lag time in receiving test results.  The 7-day curve therefore also lags behind due to unknown recent test results.) 

By Age Group
  • Youth 17 and under – 59 (!!) new cases today, total of 1,426 cases, representing 11.4% of the 12,533 total cases.  No new hospitalizations reported today among this age group.  Thankfully, no deaths have ever been reported in Solano County in this age group.  But cases among Solano youth rose steadily over the summer, from 5.6% of total cases on June 8 to 11% on August 31 and has plateaued at over 11% since September 30.  Youth are 22% of Solano’s general population, so this 11.x% may seem low.  The significance is this: youth are SERIOUSLY NOT IMMUNE (!) – in fact at least 14 of our youth have been hospitalized since the outbreak began.
  • Persons 18-49 years of age – 235 (!!) new cases today, total of 7,344 cases. This age group is 41% of the population in Solano, but represents just under 60% of the total cases, by far the highest percentage of all age groups.  The County reported no new hospitalizations among persons in this age group today.  A total of 194 have been hospitalized since the outbreak began.  No new deaths in this young group today, total of 6 deaths.  Some in this group are surely at high risk, as many are providing essential services among us, and some may be ignoring public health orders.  I expect this group is a major factor in the spread of the virus.
  • Persons 50-64 years of age – 80 (!!) new cases today, total of 2,452 cases.  This age group represents nearly 20% of the 12,533 total cases.  The County reported no new hospitalizations among persons in this age group today.  A total of 162 have been hospitalized since the outbreak began.  No new deaths in this age group today, a total of 16 deaths.
  • Persons 65 years or older – 36 (!) new cases today, total of 1,303, representing 10.4% of Solano’s 12,533 total cases.  The County reported no new hospitalizations among persons in this age group today.  A total of 233 have been hospitalized since the outbreak began.  1 new death was reported in this age group today.  A total of 69 of our elders have died of COVID, accounting for 76% of Solano’s 91 total deaths.
City Data
  • Benicia added 9 (!) new cases today, total of 327 cases since the outbreak began. 
  • Dixon added 31 (!!) new cases today, total of 908 cases.
  • Fairfield added 119 (!!) new cases today, total of 3,722 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 3 new cases today, total of 108 cases.
  • Suisun City added 34 (!!) new cases today, total of 873 cases.
  • Vacaville added 81 (!) new cases today, total of 2,634 cases.
  • Vallejo added 133 (!!) new cases today, total of 3,918 cases.
  • Unincorporated areas remained steady today, total of 43 cases.
Race / Ethnicity

The County report on race / ethnicity includes case numbers, hospitalizations, deaths and Solano population statistics.  This information is discouragingly similar to national reports that indicate significantly worse outcomes among black and brown Americans.  Note that all of this data surely undercounts Latinx Americans, as there is a large group of “Multirace / Others” which likely is composed mostly of Latinx members of our communities.

  • Asian Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 10% of cases, 12% of hospitalizations, and 17% of deaths.
  • Black Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 12% of cases, but 16% of hospitalizations, and 22% of deaths.
  • Latinx Americans are 26% of Solano’s population, but account for 22% of cases, 26% of hospitalizations, and 17% of deaths.
  • White Americans are 39% of the population in Solano County, but only account for 27% of cases, 28% of hospitalizations and 33% of deaths.
More…

The County’s 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 significant portions.  For more, check out the Dashboard at https://doitgis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=055f81e9fe154da5860257e3f2489d67.

CA NOTIFY, Contact tracing, Coronavirus, Covid 19, COVID19.CA.GOV

California Rolls Out a Virus Exposure Alert Tool – Here’s How It Works

CA NOTIFY is available today through Apple iOS and Google Android

NBC Bay Area, By Staff Report, December 10, 2020

California is rolling out a voluntary smartphone tool designed to alert people if they have spent time near someone who tested positive for the coronavirus.

The rollout of CA Notify on Thursday comes as the nation’s most populous state grapples with rising cases and hospitalizations nine months after it became the first state to introduce sweeping restrictions due to the pandemic. More than 80 percent of the state’s residents are under orders not to leave their homes for at least the next three weeks except for essential purposes.

Many residents will get a notification Thursday inviting them to participate. The more phones in the system, the better the system will work.

Here’s what to know about the mobile app.

  • The tool doesn’t track people’s identities or locations but uses Bluetooth wireless signals to detect when two phones are within 6 feet of each other for at least 15 minutes, officials said.
  • Californians will be able to activate the tool in their iPhone settings — make sure you’re using version 13.7 or later — or on Android phones by downloading the CA Notify app from the Google Play store.
  • The encounters are temporarily logged in a way that doesn’t reveal a person’s identity or geographic location.
  • If people who have activated the technology test positive for the virus, they get a verification code from the California Department of Public Health and can use that to send an anonymous alert to other participating phone users they might have exposed over the past 14 days.
  •  How quickly you receive the notification depends on when the other person received a positive result and how quickly they consented to activate notifications in CA Notify.
  • Nearly 20 states already have apps based on Google and Apple’s Exposure Notification technology. In California, CA Notify was part of a pilot program at seven University of California campuses.

Coronavirus, Covid 19, Solano County CA, Testing

Solano County Participants Sought For Stanford Coronavirus Study

“Our main objective is to learn where and how the virus is spreading…and which communities are the most vulnerable.”

Patch, By Maggie Fusek, Dec 9, 2020

Participants from Solano County and across the Bay Area are now sought for the Stanford School of Medicine's CATCH Study.

SOLANO COUNTY, CA — Stanford researchers seek the help of Solano County residents to estimate the true prevalence of the coronavirus across the San Francisco Bay Area’s 8.5 million population.

Another goal of the Community Alliance to Test Coronavirus at Home Study — CATCH— launched by the Stanford University School of Medicine is ultimately to aid in the effort to reopen schools, workplaces and communities, according to a news release.

Participants from Solano County and across the Bay Area are now sought for the CATCH Study.

“We encourage as many Bay Area residents as possible to sign-up for the CATCH Study to help increase our knowledge of a virus that has had significant impacts on our communities,” said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, one of three Stanford researchers leading the study.

“Our main objective is to learn where and how the virus is spreading —whether people are displaying symptoms or not —and which communities are most vulnerable,” Maldonado said. “These insights will help our scientists and local public officials gain a deeper understanding of the distribution of COVID-19 throughout the greater San Francisco Bay Area so that they can stop its spread.”

Maldonado, professor of pediatric infectious diseases and of health research and policy, is leading the study alongside Stanford Medicine researchers Dr. Lorene Nelson, associate professor of health research and policy, and Dr. Stephen Quake, professor of bioengineering and of applied physics and co-president of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub.

With the effects of COVID-19 disproportionately affecting minority and vulnerable communities throughout the country, and specifically in the Bay Area, one of the key intentions of the study is to address inequities in testing by researching underserved populations.

The study is enabled by the Vera Cloud Testing Platform including its novel Vera Home Test Kit, a gentle nasal swab self-collection kit.

San Francisco Bay Area residents 18 and older are welcome to enroll. Participants are sought in the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey, Napa, San Benito, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Mateo, Solano and Sonoma, and in the county and city of San Francisco.

Participation in the CATCH study is free and does not require health insurance.

Every participant joins online, reports their symptoms and exposures to COVID-19 daily, and may also be offered a home test kit at no cost upon reporting.

If accepted, within 24 hours a home test kit will be delivered by express courier to their home, where they can self-collect a sample, which is then delivered to the Stanford Health Care laboratory and tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection.

All tested participants are informed of their results privately and securely online via their personal password-protected account within the CATCH website.

The researchers intend to offer home test kits each day to a portion of all CATCH participants who reported the previous day, carefully selecting participants both with and without symptoms, in order to best represent the Bay Area’s diverse population.

The Vera Cloud Testing Platform and Home Test Kits were created by Stanford in collaboration with several other institutions, including the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub and Microsoft, and aim to increase testing capacity for COVID-19 at local, state and national levels.

Stanford also intends to make the platform available under non-commercial terms to academic institutions, public health departments, laboratory providers and other organizations interested in offering expansive at-home testing.

The study is funded by the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, an independent, nonprofit medical research center that brings together physicians, scientists and engineers from Stanford University, the University of California, San Francisco and the University of California, Berkeley to drive discovery and encourage collaborative science.

Residents interested in learning more about the CATCH Study and how they can participate can visit https://catchstudy.stanford.edu or call 833-971-2468.

Coronavirus, Covid 19, Solano County CA

173 new COVID cases reported in Solano County today, record number of 1,238 active cases

Not just numbers…

By Roger Straw, December 9, 2020

I hope I’m providing a real service tracking the numbers.  Sometimes I worry about it.  I’m aware that too often the numbers hide the trauma, loss, fatigue and anxiety we are all feeling, not to mention the excruciating experiences of those who are hospitalized and ventilated or bereaved.

I track the numbers to tell the meta story, the big picture.  You and I need to make our personal decisions with a sense of what conditions are like in our communities.  Numerical trends are important, not only for regular folk like us, but also for those in positions of power and influence.  I’m no scientist, but I know the importance of facts.  Data tells a story that goes beyond the personal heartaches and travails that surround us these days.  Pay attention to the numbers!

In this time of exploding numbers, NOW through mid-January at the least – please take extra precautions.  Stay home as much as you can, and make plans now for a different kind of Christmas, Hanukah and New Year celebration.  Wear a mask if you must go out, order groceries for pick-up or delivery, don’t stay long anywhere but home, and keep your distance more carefully than ever before.

Here are the Wednesday numbers – take note!

[Source: Solano County Coronavirus Dashboard (posted on the County website late today, around 8:45pm).  For a complete archive of County updates, see my Excel ARCHIVE.  ALSO see important daily updates from the state of California at COVID19.CA.GOV, embedded here on the BenIndy at Cases and Deaths AND Hospitalizations AND ICU Beds by REGION.  Sorry, I can’t for the life of me explain the differences between Solano reporting and the State’s reporting….]

Wednesday, December 9: 173 (!) new cases overnight, no new deaths.  Since Feb: 12,123 cases, more than 600 hospitalized, 90 deaths.Compare previous report, Tuesday, Dec. 8:Summary

    • Solano County reported 173 (!) new cases overnight.  As of today, Solano has seen an average of 140 new cases per day over the last 14 days! (source: covid19.ca.gov)  Total of 12,123 cases since the outbreak started.
    • Deaths – no new deaths reported today, total of 90 Solano deaths since the pandemic began.
    • Active cases – Solano reported 75 more active cases today.  New total of 1,238 active cases, – a record high for Solano County.  Active cases have increased alarmingly lately – COMPARE: average number of Active Cases during October was 284, average in November was 650 – and TODAY we are at 1,238!  Is the County equipped to contact trace so many infected persons?  Who knows?  To my knowledge, Solano has offered no reports on contact tracing.
    • Hospitalizations – (For COVID19-CA.GOV info, see BenIndy page, COVID-19 Hospitalizations Daily Update for Solano County.)  CAUTION ON COUNTY REPORTING: According to Solano Health Officer Dr. Bela Matyas, the County occasionally updates Age Group hospitalizations retroactively, adding substantial numbers.  Thus, many hospitalizations are never reported as CURRENTLY hospitalized.  Today, Solano County reported the number of CURRENTLY hospitalized persons increased by 4, total of 78, but TOTAL hospitalized since the outbreak began supposedly remained unchanged today, a total of 603 of all ages hospitalized since the outbreak began.  The County will likely update these figures at a later date.  [For my manual calculation of total hospitalizations, see age group stats below.]
    • ICU Beds – (For COVID19-CA.GOV info see BenIndy page, COVID-19 Hospitalizations Daily Update for Solano County, and for REGIONAL data see COVID-19 ICU Bed Availability by REGION.)  The County reported a slight increase in ICU beds available today, up from 30% to 32%, just out of the yellow danger zone.
    • Testing – The County reports today that 636 residents were tested overnight, (dramatically down from yesterday’s record high of 5,720).  A total of 141,408 unduplicated residents have now been tested for COVID-19 since the outbreak began.  31.6% of Solano County’s 447,643 residents (2019) have been tested.

Positive Test Rate – Extremely high at 12.8%

Solano County reported another high 7-day average positive test rate today of 12.8%, barely down from yesterday’s 12.9%, far and away over the State’s purple tier threshold of 8%.  Average percent positive test rates are among the best metrics for measuring community spread of the virus.  The much lower and more stable California 7-day average test rate has also been on the rise lately, and down slightly today from yesterday’s 10.1% to 10.0%.  (Note that Solano County displays past weeks and months in a 7-day test positivity line graph which also shows daily results.  However, the chart does not display an accurate number of cases for the most recent days, as there is a lag time in receiving test results.  The 7-day curve therefore also lags behind due to unknown recent test results.) 

By Age Group
  • Youth 17 and under – 18 new cases today, total of 1,367 cases, representing 11.3% of the 12,123 total cases.  No new hospitalizations reported today among this age group.  Thankfully, no deaths have ever been reported in Solano County in this age group.  But cases among Solano youth rose steadily over the summer, from 5.6% of total cases on June 8 to 11% on August 31 and has plateaued at over 11% since September 30.  Youth are 22% of Solano’s general population, so this 11.x% may seem low.  The significance is this: youth are SERIOUSLY NOT IMMUNE (!) – in fact at least 14 of our youth have been hospitalized since the outbreak began.
  • Persons 18-49 years of age – 95 (!) new cases today, total of 7,109 cases. This age group is 41% of the population in Solano, but represents just under 60% of the total cases, by far the highest percentage of all age groups.  The County reported no new hospitalizations among persons in this age group today.  A total of 194 have been hospitalized since the outbreak began.  No new deaths in this young group today, total of 6 deaths.  Some in this group are surely at high risk, as many are providing essential services among us, and some may be ignoring public health orders.  I expect this group is a major factor in the spread of the virus.
  • Persons 50-64 years of age – 39 new cases today, total of 2,372 cases.  This age group represents nearly 20% of the 12,123 total cases.  The County reported no new hospitalizations among persons in this age group today.  A total of 162 have been hospitalized since the outbreak began.  No new deaths in this age group today, a total of 16 deaths.
  • Persons 65 years or older – 21 new cases today, total of 1,267, representing 10.5% of Solano’s 12,123 total cases.  The County reported no new hospitalizations among persons in this age group today.  A total of 233 have been hospitalized since the outbreak began.  No new deaths were reported in this age group today.  A total of 68 of our elders have died of COVID, accounting for 76% of Solano’s 90 total deaths.
City Data
  • Benicia added 2 new cases today, total of 318 cases since the outbreak began. 
  • Dixon added 15 new cases today, total of 877 cases.
  • Fairfield added 54 new cases today, total of 3,603 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 5 new cases today, total of 105 cases.
  • Suisun City added 10 new cases today, total of 839 cases.
  • Vacaville added 49 new cases today, total of 2,553 cases.
  • Vallejo added 37 new cases today, total of 3,785 cases.
  • Unincorporated areas added 1 new case today, total of 43 cases.
Race / Ethnicity

The County report on race / ethnicity includes case numbers, hospitalizations, deaths and Solano population statistics.  This information is discouragingly similar to national reports that indicate significantly worse outcomes among black and brown Americans.  Note that all of this data surely undercounts Latinx Americans, as there is a large group of “Multirace / Others” which likely is composed mostly of Latinx members of our communities.

  • Asian Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 10% of cases, 12% of hospitalizations, and 17% of deaths.
  • Black Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 12% of cases, but 16% of hospitalizations, and 22% of deaths.
  • Latinx Americans are 26% of Solano’s population, but account for 22% of cases, 26% of hospitalizations, and 17% of deaths.
  • White Americans are 39% of the population in Solano County, but only account for 26% of cases, 28% of hospitalizations and 34% of deaths.
More…

The County’s 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 significant portions.  For more, check out the Dashboard at https://doitgis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=055f81e9fe154da5860257e3f2489d67.