Category Archives: Covid 19

Benicia CA, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Delta variant, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine

Three unvaccinated Solano residents die of recent COVID surge, 30 currently in ICU beds

August 19, 2021 Roger Straw

Solano reports 1st deaths from latest Covid surge, 5 new overall

Fairfield Daily Republic, by Todd R. Hansen, August 18, 2021

A pedestrian wears a face mask to slow the spread of the virus that causes Covid-19, while walking along Travis Boulevard in Fairfield, Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021. (Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic)

FAIRFIELD — Three Solano County residents have died, at least in part, due to the Covid-19 surge that started shortly after July 4.

Each was unvaccinated, the Solano County Public Health Division reported.

“So these are the first fatalities from this surge . . . and it is hard to imagine there won’t be more,” Dr. Bela Matyas, the county public health officer, said in a phone interview Monday. “A lot of people have been hospitalized.”

The 129 residents in area hospitals due to Covid-19, as of Monday, is the highest number since the surge began. Thirty of those residents are in intensive care units, representing about half of all ICU patients.

Dr. Bela Matyas, Solano County Health Officer

“So hospital impact is significant,” Matyas said.

The most recent of the three fatalities occurred Aug. 2. There was one man who was between 50 and 65; one man was older than 65; and one woman who was older than 65. All lived at home, the county reported.

Prior to these deaths, the most recent fatalities include one in May and one in June.

Two other deaths reported Monday were from last year, taking the pandemic total to 259. Both – one man, one woman – were described as “very elderly,” Matyas said. Each lived at home as well.

Matyas reported that for July, 7% of those who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus were vaccinated; 7.5% for June and July combined. He said he is still gathering data on the vaccination status for those who have ended up in a hospital, but knows that number will be lower than 7%.

The county reported 250 additional cases since Friday’s update, bringing the county total to 37,914.

Fairfield added 54 cases to take its total to 10,291. Vallejo is at 11,177 cases after 96 new reports. Vacaville added 60 cases to bring its count to 9,900, the county reported.

Suisun City (2,673) added 13 new cases; Dixon (2,114) added 14; Benicia (1,177) added 10; Rio Vista (464) added two; and the total in the unincorporated area of the county climbed to 125 after one new case, the county reported.

The number of active cases in the county was at 838 Monday, down 72 from Friday’s report.

The seven-day positivity rate decreased from 18.9% to 18.6%, the county reported.

The county also reported that 60% of residents who are 12 or older are now fully vaccinated, up from 59% in Friday’s update. The percentage of those who have at least one shot held at 72%.

continued…

Benicia CA, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Delta variant, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine

Solano Rising: 380 new infections today, nearly 1,000 active cases

August 18, 2021 Roger Straw

UPDATE: See today’s latest information

By Roger Straw, Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Wednesday, August 18: Summer surge in Solano, report of 380 new infections today, nearly 1,000 ACTIVE cases.

Solano County COVID dashboard SUMMARY:

[Sources: see below. See also my ARCHIVE spreadsheet of daily Solano COVID updates.]

CASES: The County reported 380 new COVID cases over the last two days, 190 per day! We haven’t seen these kind of numbers since the winter surge in January. CASES-PER DAY TREND: We are experiencing a dramatic “summer surge” now. Cases-per-day were trending downward in the Spring, but rose rapidly in July and are skyrocketing here in August:ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 946 ACTIVE cases rose again from Monday’s 838, up alarmingly from 212 on July 2, and higher than anything since the winter surge.

POSITIVE TEST RATE: INCREDIBLY HIGH – much higher than US & California! Our 7-day average percent positivity rate was up today from 18.6% Monday to 20.3% today, 2½ times the purple tier margin, over 4 times California’s rate (4.7%) and nearly twice the U.S. rate (11.5%). [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 up again today

CURRENT hospitalizations rose today from 129 to 143 persons, higher than any time since January 26, 2021.

ICU Beds Available were up today from 21% to 28%, but still in the yellow danger zone.

Ventilators Available were up today from 56% to 63%.

TOTAL Hospitalized – 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 by Age Group chart today, reporting 1 new hospitalization, someone age 18-49. Percentages remain the same. The Age Group chart shows a total of 2,047 persons hospitalized since the beginning of the outbreak, in the following age groups:

Age Group	Hospitalizations	% of Total
0-17	36	2%
18-49	583	28%
50-64	547	27%
65+	881	43%
TOTAL	2,047	100%

Hospitalizations are also recorded on the County’s demographic chart labeled “Hospitalizations by Race / Ethnicity.” The chart was updated today, adding 1 person, Hispanic/Latinx. Here are the current numbers, percentages remaining unchanged. Interestingly, the total doesn’t square with the total by age groups.

Race / Ethnicity	Hospitalizations	% of Total
Asians	323	17%
Black / African American	332	17%
Hispanic / Latinx	553	29%
White	628	33%
Multirace / Others	84	4%
TOTAL	1,919	100%

Face Coverings…

Good news! Benicia City Council voted yesterday to move forward next week in consideration of a Citywide indoors mask mandate for all public places. This was the first of a two-step process that will return to Council for the second step on next Tuesday, August 24. See also California’s recent Guidance for the Use of Face Coverings. The guidelines include a recommendation for universal masking indoors statewide, adding of Adult and Senior Care Facilities to settings where all individuals must wear masks indoors, and a reference to new requirements for unvaccinated workers. Some California cities and counties are returning to mandatory masks for all in crowded places. In the Bay Area, Solano County REMAINS the only holdout against even RECOMMENDING masks in public indoors spaces. It looks like Dr. Matyas will refuse to make the difficult decisions. Sad – and dangerous!

STUDY SHOWS HIGHER RATE OF “BREAKTHROUGH” CASES AMONG THE VACCINATED

See latest info here: Post-Vaccine COVID-19 Cases by the California Department of Public Health, August 11, 2021. From the report: “For the week of August 7, the average daily COVID-19 case rate among unvaccinated Californians is 51 per 100,000 and the average daily COVID-19 case rate among fully vaccinated Californians is much lower at 8.2 per 100,000.” [I’m no mathematician – could it be that this 51 to 8.2 ratio suggests that one in every seven California cases is a vaccinated person? Someone please confirm or correct me! rogrmail at gmail dot com]

Wearing masks again, social distancing & vaccination…

The “breakthrough” numbers are small in comparison to the huge surge in cases and hospitalizations among the unvaccinated, but it’s still a significant new factor. We were just beginning to associate more freely with fully vaccinated friends and family, and now we understand that a small percentage of the vaccinated among us may be asymptomatic and unknowingly transmitting the virus, and inevitably helping spread the disease to someone who knows someone, who knows someone else, who knows yet another someone who is not vaccinated, or who is too young or too health-compromised to be vaccinated – and who may end up seriously ill or even dead! Please mask indoors in public now, and maybe even indoors with vaccinated family and friends! And PLEASE talk to anyone you know who isn’t vaccinated. This thing ain’t over yet!

Cases by City on Wednesday, August 18:

Benicia added 10 new cases today, a total of 1,187 cases since the outbreak began, 4.3% of its population of 27,570.
Dixon added 20 new cases today, total of 2,134 cases, 10.8% of its population of 19,794.
Fairfield added 103(!) new cases today, total of 10,394 cases, 8.9% of its population of 117,149.
Rio Vista added 4 new cases today, total of 468 cases, 5.0% of its population of 9,416.
Suisun City added 21 new cases today, total of 2,694 cases, 9.1% of its population of 29,447.
Vacaville added 102(!) new cases today, a total of 10,002 cases, 10.1% its of population of 98,807.
Vallejo added 119(!) new cases today, a total of 11,296 cases, 9.4% of its population of 119,544.
Unincorporated added 1 new case today, a total of 119 cases (population figures not available).

Continue reading Solano Rising: 380 new infections today, nearly 1,000 active cases →

#Masks4All, #wearamask, Benicia City Council, Coronavirus variant, Covid 19

Masks in Benicia – now a political decision rather than a health emergency

August 18, 2021 Roger Straw

By Roger Straw, August 18, 2021

At its meeting last night, the Benicia City Council debated and approved a proposal to hold a special meeting next week to consider instituting a Citywide indoor mask mandate.

The meeting will be held next Tuesday, August 24 at 6pm. Here’s the Agenda.

Some observers at yesterday’s meeting felt that Council members Trevor Macenski and Lionel Largaespada indicated likely opposition for the measure. They have invited Solano County Health Officer Bela Matyas to attend next week. Matyas is the ONLY county health officer in the Bay Area who has not instituted masking requirements to head off the spread of the Delta variant. His presence next week will no doubt muddy the waters.

We can only hope that Council will get the required three votes. It’s so sad that face coverings have become a political issue here in Benicia and Solano County. We remember fondly how in March of 2020 our previous City Manager and City Council took charge and declared emergency action in the absence of leadership from the County.

Video of the August 17 City Council discussion and Public Comments on the mask mandate

NOTE: the Council discussion, public comments and action on the issue takes just under an hour, beginning at 1:37:53. Public comments begin at 2:02:30. Final discussion by Council begins at 2:23, and ends with the unanimous vote at 2:30:50. (From there if you’re interested, the Council discusses COVID protocol for reopening the Council Chambers.) And… if the above video does not work for you, you can click here to go to the City website to view the video clip on the mask mandate.

Benicia CA, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Delta variant, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine

Solano County records five more COVID deaths over the weekend, 250 new infections

August 16, 2021 Roger Straw

UPDATE: See today’s latest information

By Roger Straw, Monday, August 16, 2021