Category Archives: Covid 19

Covid-19 in Solano County – seven more on Wednesday, March 25

UPDATE: See today’s latest information


Solano County update on March 25, 2020

Solano County COVID-19 DASHBOARD UPDATE, March 25, 2020 – Click for a larger image.

Solano County reported 3 new positive cases yesterday, and added 7 more today for a total of 31.  Our coronavirus data curve is on a steeper upward trajectory.  Everyone stay home and be safe!

The County’s Coronavirus UPDATE shows when those cases were tested over the last several weeks, (see “Date of specimen collection,” upper right).

The chart at bottom right, “Cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 cases…” gives a clearer picture of the surge in Solano County.

Also of interest:

  • Differentiation between Total number of cases (31) and Active cases (15).  NOTE THAT active cases yesterday were 8, thus all 7 f today’s new cases are active.
  • Total number hospitalized (7 known, same as yesterday)
  • Proportion of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 (coming soon)
  • Total number of deaths (0 as of March 25)
  • Total number of cases by age groups (0-18: 0; 19-64: 21; 65 and older: 10)  6 of today’s 7 new cases were aged 19-24.  1 was 65 and older.
  • Total residents tested today (coming soon)

Note:

Solano staff refuses to divulge WHERE in the County the positive cases reside.

Solano County Health & Social Services safety net support services for residents and those impacted by COVID-19

Solano County Headline News

HEADLINE NEWS

March 25, 2020

SOLANO COUNTY – The Solano County Department of Health and Social Services is the local County department that assists individuals in gaining access to a range of safety net support services for individuals and families experiencing hardships, and especially now by COVID-19.  These programs, including food assistance, medical insurance and cash aid for those who are eligible, are designed to ensure that all individuals and families have resources to meet their basic needs.

CalFresh Food Program
CalFresh provides benefits to help households purchase the food. The benefits are provided via Electronic Benefits Transmission (EBT) which is accessed by using a card, like a debit card. These cards are accepted at grocery stores, farmer’s markets and most other stores that sell food.

CalWORKs Cash Assistance Program
CalWORKs provides cash assistance, housing, utilities, and clothing for families with little or no income. These benefits are issued via EBT card.

Medi-Cal Health Insurance
Medi-Cal health insurance pays for medical services for children and adults with limited income and resources.

General Assistance Programs
General assistance programs provide cash assistance for adults without dependents. These cash benefits are issued via EBT card.


All Solano County community members, regardless of immigration status, may apply for these programs if they are eligible. For more information about immigration and these safety net supports, visit https://www.solanocounty.com/depts/hss/publiccharge

Most applications for these programs will be accepted and processed remotely while Shelter at Home Orders are in effect due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19). After an application is submitted, the applicant will be contacted by phone to schedule a phone interview, which may be on the same day. Applications may be obtained and submitted as follows:

    • – Online: https://www.mybenefitscalwin.org. (all programs) and www.GetCalFresh.org (CalFresh only)
    • Phone: (707) 784-8050 in Fairfield or (707) 553-5000 in Vallejo and (707) 469-4500 in Vacaville, Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
    • Pick Up / Drop Off Application: Community members are strongly encouraged to apply online or request an application by phone. However, this may not be possible in some cases. Community members may visit H&SS buildings to pick up or drop-off an application if needed: 365 Tuolumne St., Vallejo; 275 Beck Ave, Fairfield; 1119 E. Monte Vista, Vacaville. Community members can return the application.
    • By mail: Solano County H&SS Department, PO Box 12000, Vallejo, CA 94590
    • By email: EESRightFaxVJO2ndFl@Solanocounty.com in Vallejo; EESRightFaxFF@Solancounty.com in Fairfield; and EESRightFaxVV@SolanoCounty.com in Vacaville.
    • By FAX: to Solano County Health & Social Services Department, (707) 784-8050

FOR MORE INFORMATION
For information about other safety net programs in Solano County, visit www.SolanoCounty.com.  Individuals who have questions about their active case should call the Benefits Action Center at (707) 784-3900.

EMPLOYMENT AND INSURANCE INFORMATION
For those unable to work due to exposure to COVID-19, caring for an ill family member or working reduced hours because of COVID-19 related business closures, visit the CA Employment Development Department website to file an unemployment or disability insurance claim: https://www.edd.ca.gov/about_edd/coronavirus-2019.htm.  Governor Newsom’s recent Executive Order waives the one-week unpaid waiting period.

Health officer to Board of Supervisors: ‘No reason’ to believe coronavirus will end soon

Vallejo Times-Herald, by Nick Sestanovich, March 25, 2020

As Solano County nears the first full week of its shelter-at-home order in response to the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic, County Health Officer Dr. Bela Matyas delivered an update on how the county was responding at the Board of Supervisors’ Tuesday meeting.

To comply with social distancing guidelines at the federal, state and county levels, the meeting operated differently than it had in the past. It was closed to the public, the supervisors sat farther apart than usual and members of the public were able to deliver their comments through Cisco’s videoconferencing application Webex.

Chair Erin Hannigan remarked that it was a “very trying time” that impacted everyone’s lives, and she did not expect it to let up by April, May or even June. Nonetheless, she said everyone could do their part in ending the spread by maintaining the social distancing guidelines.

“We have to be thoughtful of how we conduct ourselves,” she said.

Matyas said the response has utilized people from several different departments. As of Monday, Matyas said there had been 21 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Solano, seven of which had been reported that day. Of the 21, nine were active cases and 12 had fully recovered. Seven of those nine had been hospitalized.

One issue Matyas noted was that the county had “very limited testing” but had been in close communication with the health care community since American evacuees from the Wuhan region were first brought to Travis Air Force Base in February.

“We are working with hospitals to identify those individuals that should be prioritized for testing so that we can stay on top of the outbreak as it impacts our health care infrastructure,” he said. Matyas echoed Hannigan’s earlier assertion that the outbreak will likely not be receding any time soon.

“We are, in all likelihood, only at the very beginning of this outbreak,” he said. “We have been dealing with the outbreak here in our county only for about the past month. There is no reason epidemiologically to believe it won’t be with us for another 4 to 6 months, possibly longer.”

Matyas said the more successful residents are with social distancing, the virus may stay longer but be less impactful over time.

Among the issues cited by Matyas were local health care workers’ access to protective equipment like masks, face shields and gloves.

“We don’t have yet what would be described as shortages in our county, but we’re all looking at the reality that if the pace of use continues at the current pace, we will run into problems going forward,” he said. “We’re going to have to reconsider how best to protect our health care workforce from this disease while they need to continue to be available to serve our communities.”

However, Matyas was optimistic that the manufacturing of such products has increased and the county has been able to release supplies from the state’s stockpile.

“If that can get us through the gap where manufacturing can catch up, then we should be OK,” he said.

Another issue Matyas noted was the limitations in testing, although he said the capacity for testing was improving.

“Our own laboratory has been able to double its testing capacity in the past couple of days,” he said.

However, Matyas said the problem was not technology but the availability of resources to perform the tests. He said county health workers were asking the state every day for additional access to testing equipment.

“We are doing much better than we were, but we’re not at a point yet where we can be freely testing everybody who we would like to test, never mind everybody who would like to be tested,” he said.

Matyas said the county was testing approximately 20 to 25 people each day, which has increased to between 40 and 60, and was working with hospitals to provide more samples to test more people on an ongoing basis. The county’s current focus was to protect health care centers and seniors.

“Those are, without a doubt, the individuals at greatest risk of a bad outcome,” Matyas said. “It is a reinforcement of what we already know, which is that we have to protect our fragile elderly from exposure.”

To that end, Matyas said county health officials were working with longterm care, assisted living and memory care facilities to create a barrier between public workers and patients.

Matyas also addressed the county’s approach to issuing a stay-at-home order, noting that Solano, Napa and Sonoma counties were “blindsided” when the six other counties issued “shelter- in-place” orders. He said part of the county’s initial hesitation to issue such an order was partly due to the impact on individuals most likely to be economically harmed by it, including small-business owners and employees of the service economy.

“These are also the same people we struggle with, with regard to health and equity all the time,” he said. “Enhancing that impact on them was not a trivial consideration, and it had to be part of our decision-making.”

Matyas said he also disagreed with applying the terminology of “shelter in place,” which is usually reserved for active shooter incidents, chemical spills and other scenarios where leaving home is forbidden. Under a “shelter-at-home” order, people can leave to buy groceries and get exercise, among other things. The order was finally issued on March 18.

Dr. Christine Wu, deputy public health officer, said the county was continuing to get guidelines out to the community by providing more links at its coronavirus webpage at http://solanocounty.com/depts/ph/coronavirus.asp*.   Among these links are a dashboard tracking the number of cases since the virus was first identified in Solano.

Supervisor Skip Thomson said he appreciated the presentation despite feeling the rollout of the county order took too long.

“How many more people got infected in those three days while we were figuring out ‘shelter-in-place’ (or) ‘stay-at-home’ policies?” he asked. “I appreciate everything that was done, but I think it was too slow in getting it out.”

Thomson asked if the goal was to test everyone or only those with symptoms. Matyas said it was dependent on what was available.

“While we have shortages, we have to prioritize and we have to make sure that we amply protect the health care environment,” he said.

As more testing became available, Matyas said there would be much fewer limitations but the county did not currently have the capacity to test everyone in the general public.

Supervisor Jim Spering asked how the coronavirus differed from past viruses. Matyas said the most challenging aspect was that it was a brand new virus.

“We have no history of exposure,” he said. “Influenza changes every year, and it’s why you need to be vaccinated against flu every year, but there is some generic protection against a new string from exposure to prior strings. There is none of that with this virus. Our bodies are generally naive to its existence.”

Spering also asked how the county would address potential issues resulting from the outbreak, including increased stress and possible cases of suicide or domestic violence.

“How are we addressing some of these other issues that are being created from this unemployment that we’re creating?” he asked.

Matyas said it was a major concern and one that was common during recessions.

“How we deal with it is to have our workforce continue to be vigilant and to react as quickly as possible to try to prevent it,” he said. “There is no silver bullet to how to deal with this…Most of the people currently affected are not people we typically interact with because they were employed and they were fine. They weren’t coming to us for services.”

Matyas said the county would work to make sure it is prepared to address such a crisis.

“We’re trying to do what we always do, better,” he said.

In other business, the board unanimously voted to appoint Thomson and John Vasquez to Vacaville’s working committee on homeless services.

Covid-19 in Solano County – three more on Tuesday, March 24

UPDATE: See today’s latest information


Solano County update on March 24, 2020

Solano County COVID-19 DASHBOARD UPDATE, March 24, 2020 – Click for a larger image.

Solano County reported a surge of 7 cases yesterday, and added 3 more today for a total of 24.  We are beginning to see the rise in the data curve as it has been experienced elsewhere.

The County’s Coronavirus UPDATE shows when those cases were tested over the last several weeks, (see “Date of specimen collection,” upper right).

The chart at bottom right, “Cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 cases…” gives a clearer picture of the surge reported yesterday.

Also of interest on the number of cases DASHBOARD:

  • Differentiation between Total number of cases (24) and Active cases (8).
  • Total number hospitalized (7 known)
  • Proportion of hospitalizations due to COVID-19 (coming soon)
  • Total number of deaths (0 as of March 24)
  • Total number of cases by age groups (0-18: 0; 19-64: 15; 65 and older: 9)
  • Total residents tested every day (coming soon)