Category Archives: Face coverings

#wearamask, Benicia CA, Benicia City Council, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Face coverings, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine, Vaccine mandate

Solano County – no COVID update today, technical error

By Roger Straw, Monday, November 22, 2021

Monday, November 22: Solano County issues no COVID update today, citing “technical error.”  See latest report summary at benindy.wpengine.com/coronavirus.

#wearamask, Benicia CA, Benicia City Council, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Face coverings, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine, Vaccine mandate

Three more dead in Solano County – total of six COVID deaths this week

NOTE: The information below is not the latest.  CLICK HERE for today’s latest information.
By Roger Straw, Friday, November 19, 2021
[NOTE: Benicia City Council decides to keep mask mandate in effect at least until Dec. 7 – click to scroll down.  – R.S.]

Friday, November 19: Solano County reports 3 new deaths (6 this week), and 80 new infections. Solano remains in SUBSTANTIAL rate of transmission.  Benicia sees 3 new infections, remains in MODERATE transmission.

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

DEATHS: Solano reported 3 new COVID-related deaths again today, 6 this week.  One who died was age 18-49,  one age 50-64 and one over 65.  One was Asian, one Hispanic/Latinx, and  one White.  The County reported 27 COVID deaths in September, 18 in October, and 6 so far in November.  A new total of 321 Solano residents have died of COVID or COVID-related causes over the course of the pandemic.

CASES: The County reported 80 new COVID cases today.  CASES BY AGE GROUP: 17 of these 80 cases (21%) were youth and children under 18.  46 were age 18-49, 13 were age 50-64, and only 6 were 65+.  Below is my color-coded analysis of cases reported by age group, as a percentage of total cases.  I am showing increases in red and decreases in green as reported by Solano County since April of 2020.  Note  the steady increase among children and youth of Solano County.  The population of those age 0-17 in Solano County is roughly 22%.COMPARE: U.S. cases among age 0-17 as percentage of total cases is at 15.4% as of today. (From the CDC covid-data-tracker.)

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen SUBSTANTIAL community transmission, with 271 new cases (down from 298 on Wednesday).  CDC FORMULA: Based on Solano County’s population, 450 cases in 7 days would move Solano up into the CDC’s population-based definition of a HIGH transmission rate, and we will need to drop below 225 cases in 7 days to rate as having only MODERATE community transmission.

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 366 ACTIVE cases is up from Wednesday’s 352, and still far above our summer rates.

CASES BY CITY on Friday, November 19:

  • Benicia added 3 new cases today, a total of 1,570 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia remained at the very top of the MODERATE range of community transmission with 11 new cases over the last 7 days. Benicia has now seen MODERATE 7-day spread for 7 consecutive Solano updates (16 days, since Wed. Nov. 3) – SEE CHART BELOW.  MODERATE is defined as less than 14 cases, based on Benicia population.  Benicia will need to maintain fewer than 14 new cases per 7 days for 30 consecutive days before relaxing the mask mandate.  See update on Benicia’s mask mandate below.  And note above that Solano County is currently experiencing SUBSTANTIAL transmission.

  • Dixon added 2 new cases today, total of 2,571 cases.
  • Fairfield added 21 new cases today, total of 12,470 cases.
  • Rio Vista reported 1 fewer (!?) new cases today, total of 626 cases.
  • Suisun City added 3 new cases today, total of 3,288 cases.
  • Vacaville added 33 new cases today, a total of 12,274 cases.
  • Vallejo added 19 new cases today, a total of 13,587 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 0 new cases today, a total of 143 cases.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Solano’s 7-day percent positivity rate was 4.8% today, down from 5.2% on Wednesday.  COMPARE: Today’s California rate is 1.5%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking Center]  Today’s U.S. rate is 6.18%. [Source: CDC COVID Data Tracker.] 

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations were up a bit today from 24 to 26 persons, and still above the range we saw during last summer.

TOTAL hospitalizations: Solano County’s TOTAL hospitalized over the course of the pandemic must be independently discovered in the County’s occasional update of hospitalizations by Age Group and by Race/Ethnicity.  Solano Public Health did not update its age and race hospitalizations charts today.  Solano hospitals have previously reported a total of 3,017 COVID patients since the beginning of the outbreak.

ICU Bed Availability is 39% today, up from 32% on Wednesday, in the County’s GREEN zone, but we remain in the worrisome range we saw during last winter’s surge.

Ventilator Availability today rose today from 69% to 75%.

UPDATE on Benicia’s mask mandate
Benicia’s mask mandate will remain in effect, at least through December 7.  See
Vallejo also passed an indoors mask mandate on August 31.  In the Bay Area, Solano County REMAINS the only holdout against a mask mandate for public indoors spaces.

SOLANO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS failed to consider an agendized proposal for a countywide MASK MANDATE on Tuesday, September 14.  Recent Bay Area news put Solano in a sad light: all other county health officers issued a joint statement offering details on when they would be able to lift mask mandates (not likely soon).  TV news anchors had to point out that Solano would not be considering such a move since our health officer had not been able to “justify” a mask mandate in the first place.  The Solano Board of Supervisors has joined with Dr. Bela Matyas in officially showing poor leadership on the COVID-19 pandemic.

HOW DOES TODAY’S REPORT COMPARE?  See recent reports and others going back to April 20, 2020 on my ARCHIVE of daily Solano COVID updates (an excel spreadsheet).

>>The data on this page is from the Solano County COVID-19 Dashboard.  The Dashboard is full of much more information and updated Monday, Wednesday and Friday around 4 or 5pm.  On the County’s dashboard, you can hover a mouse or click on an item for more information.  Note the tabs at top for “Summary, Demographics” and “Vaccines.”  Click here to go to today’s Solano County Dashboard.

Sources
#wearamask, Benicia CA, Benicia City Council, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Face coverings, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine, Vaccine mandate

Solano COVID report: 3 deaths, 27 hospitalizations and 99 new infections

NOTE: The information below is not the latest.  CLICK HERE for today’s latest information.
By Roger Straw, Wednesday, November 17, 2021
[BREAKING NEWS: Benicia City Council decides to keep mask mandate in effect at least until Dec. 7 – click here to scroll down.  – R.S.]

Wednesday, November 17: Solano County reports 3 deaths, 27 hospitalizations and 99 new infections, remains in SUBSTANTIAL rate of transmission.  Benicia sees 7 new infections, just barely remains in MODERATE transmission.

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

DEATHS: Solano reported 3 new COVID-related deaths today.  One who died was age 50-64 and 2 were over 65.  All 3 were white.  The County reported 27 COVID deaths in September, 18 in October, and today’s 3 in November.  A new total of 318 Solano residents have died of COVID or COVID-related causes over the course of the pandemic.

CASES: The County reported 99 new COVID cases today.  CASES BY AGE GROUP: 23 of these 99 cases (23%) were youth and children under 18.  61 were age 18-49, 10 were age 50-64, and only 5 were 65+.  Below is my color-coded analysis of cases reported by age group, as a percentage of total cases.  I am showing increases in red and decreases in green as reported by Solano County since April of 2020.  Note  the steady increase among children and youth of Solano County.  The population of those age 0-17 in Solano County is roughly 22%.COMPARE: U.S. cases among age 0-17 as percentage of total cases is at 15.4% as of today. (From the CDC covid-data-tracker.)

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen SUBSTANTIAL community transmission, with 298 new cases (up from 268 on Monday).  CDC FORMULA: Based on Solano County’s population, 450 cases in 7 days would move Solano up into the CDC’s population-based definition of a HIGH transmission rate, and we will need to drop below 225 cases in 7 days to rate as having only MODERATE community transmission.

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 352 ACTIVE cases is up from Monday’s 331, and still far above our summer rates.

CASES BY CITY on Wednesday, November 17:

  • Benicia added 7 new cases today, a total of 1,567 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia remained at the very top of the MODERATE range of community transmission with 13 new cases over the last 7 days. Benicia has now seen MODERATE 7-day spread for 6 consecutive Solano updates (14 days, since Wed. Nov. 3) – SEE CHART BELOW.  MODERATE is defined as less than 14 cases, based on Benicia population.  Benicia will need to maintain fewer than 14 new cases per 7 days for 30 consecutive days before relaxing the mask mandate.  See update on Benicia’s mask mandate below.  And note above that Solano County is currently experiencing SUBSTANTIAL transmission.

  • Dixon added 2 new cases today, total of 2,569 cases.
  • Fairfield added 20 new cases today, total of 12,449 cases.
  • Rio Vista reported 2 new cases today, total of 627 cases.
  • Suisun City added 7 new cases today, total of 3,285 cases.
  • Vacaville added 32 new cases today, a total of 12,241 cases.
  • Vallejo added 28 new cases today, a total of 13,568 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 1 new case today, a total of 143 cases.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Solano’s 7-day percent positivity rate was 5.2% today, up from 4.6% on Monday.  COMPARE: Today’s California rate is 1.5%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking Center]  Today’s U.S. rate is 5.81%. [Source: CDC COVID Data Tracker.] 

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations were down today from 31 to 24 persons, but still above the range we saw during last summer.

TOTAL hospitalizations: Solano County’s TOTAL hospitalized over the course of the pandemic must be independently discovered in the County’s occasional update of hospitalizations by Age Group and by Race/Ethnicity.  Solano Public Health updated its age and race hospitalizations charts today.  The age chart shows 27 previously unreported hospitalizations, one youth age 0-17, 12 persons age 18-49, 6 age 50-64 and 8 age 65+.  The race/ethnicity chart shows 6 Hispanic/Latinx persons and 14 White persons.  Solano hospitals have admitted a NEW TOTAL of 3,017 COVID patients since the beginning of the outbreak.

ICU Bed Availability is 32% today, up from 28% on Monday, back into the GREEN zone.  We remain in the worrisome range we saw during last winter’s surge.

Ventilator Availability today rose today from 60% to 69%.

BREAKING NEWS on Benicia’s mask mandate
Benicia’s mask mandate will remain in effect, at least through December 7.  See
Vallejo also passed an indoors mask mandate on August 31.  In the Bay Area, Solano County REMAINS the only holdout against a mask mandate for public indoors spaces.

SOLANO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS failed to consider an agendized proposal for a countywide MASK MANDATE on Tuesday, September 14.  Recent Bay Area news put Solano in a sad light: all other county health officers issued a joint statement offering details on when they would be able to lift mask mandates (not likely soon).  TV news anchors had to point out that Solano would not be considering such a move since our health officer had not been able to “justify” a mask mandate in the first place.  The Solano Board of Supervisors has joined with Dr. Bela Matyas in officially showing poor leadership on the COVID-19 pandemic.

HOW DOES TODAY’S REPORT COMPARE?  See recent reports and others going back to April 20, 2020 on my ARCHIVE of daily Solano COVID updates (an excel spreadsheet).

>>The data on this page is from the Solano County COVID-19 Dashboard.  The Dashboard is full of much more information and updated Monday, Wednesday and Friday around 4 or 5pm.  On the County’s dashboard, you can hover a mouse or click on an item for more information.  Note the tabs at top for “Summary, Demographics” and “Vaccines.”  Click here to go to today’s Solano County Dashboard.

Sources
Benicia City Council, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Face coverings, Hospitalizations, Local Regulation, Mandatory face coverings, Masks, San Francisco Bay Area, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine, Vaccine mandate

Open Letter to Benicia City Council: Dr. Richard Fleming on mask mandate

Professional perspective and corrections: vaccine, hospitalizations, role of government, Bay Area comparisons

Email, by Richard Fleming, M.D., November 17, 2021, with permission

Hi Benicia City Council members,

Richard Fleming, M.D.

Thank you for taking the time to discuss and consider the safest way forward for our city during the pandemic. I hope you can take a few minutes to consider the following points:

  1. Vaccination rate.  According to publicly available data from the California Department of Public Health, the fully-vaccinated rate for the city of Benicia is 67.7%.  We have never been above 70% and certainly never been above 80%, numbers which have been mentioned in past city council meetings. (If we include those who got only one shot, the percentage is 76.7%, but the more important number is those who are fully vaccinated.) I strongly urge you to use the CDPH-reported fully-vaccinated rate for Benicia in future city council meetings. Also keep in mind that many fully-vaccinated people have not yet gotten boosters, and are beginning to lose some degree of immunity. Thus, the proportion of our city which has good immunity against covid-19 is actually less that 67.7%.
    You can see the state-provided numbers here:
    https://dig.abclocal.go.com/kabc/ca-vaccine-tracker/CA_vax_zip_map.html
  2. Vaccine availability is not a good measure of our city’s immunity to covid-19.  It is not a good metric to use in making public health safety decisions. Vaccines are equally available throughout the Bay Area, yet our city’s vaccination rate is below the average vaccination rate for the other 8 Bay Area counties. It is clear that availability of the vaccine does not equate to uptake of the vaccine. It is better to make public health decisions based on the actual level of immunity, rather than the potential level of immunity.
  3. Are cases or hospitalizations a better metric to follow? As Councilmember Largaespada noted at last night’s meeting, covid cases can vary depending on how much testing is being done. He correctly pointed out that the hospitalization rate is a better gauge of the virus’ impact on our city. I am unaware of Benicia-specific hospitalization data, so Solano County’s data is a fair proxy. The August City Council decision used cases as the metric to follow. I strongly urge you to change this metric to hospitalizations, since this measure more accurately captures how the pandemic is affecting our residents. Also, it is important to not view ICU capacity as equivalent to hospitalization rates. Councilmember Largaespada interchangeably referred to ICU capacity and hospitalization rates, but those are two very distinct and different measures. Since treatment options for covid-19 have improved dramatically, many covid-19 patients who are quite sick are now being safely managed on standard medical units or step-down units. The only ones needing ICU beds these days are the sickest of the sick. If ICU capacity in our county is going to be used as a metric, we could have stopped all public health precautions several months ago.
  4. Should covid public health policies let those who choose not to be vaccinated live with the consequences of their decision? At your meeting last night, it was said we at some point need to just move on, and accept the fact the virus will be with us for a long time. Since vaccines are now widely available, it is up to individuals to decide whether to get them or not. I have two responses:
    (a) Yes, covid-19 will likely become endemic at some point, like influenza. But we are not there yet. In fact, we are far from that point. In very bad influenza years, the country loses an average of 142 people per day. Covid-19 is still killing over 1,000 people per day. Covid-19 is surging in many areas of the country and the world, and the coming winter months, along with holiday parties, will very likely increase the risk of viral spread. Most public health experts do anticipate covid-19 will become endemic and something we need to manage in our lives. But we are not there yet.
    (b) Government has always had a role and responsibility to help protect people from themselves. That is why, for example, we have seat belt laws. The availability of seat belts does not necessarily mean they will be used, so we have laws which force people to use them. Even more importantly, government has a role to insure people not make individual decision which harm others. That is why why have drunk driving laws. A person may feel they can hold their liquor and drive safely, but the government has decided to not leave that judgment up to each individual. With covid, those who opt to not be vaccinated are both putting themselves at risk and putting others at risk. It is fully appropriate for government to adopt policies to protect both the individual and the community from those who are putting themselves and others at risk.
  5. What other Bay Area counties are doing. At last night’s meeting, I said that the other eight Bay Area counties are all retaining mask mandates. As was correctly pointed out, Marin has lifted their mask mandate, but it is only lifted for fully-vaccinated people. Partially vaccinated and unvaccinated people are still under a mask mandate. Marin has the highest vaccination rate, the lowest hospitalization rate, and the lowest death rate in the Bay Area. Contra Costa has not yet made a decision to lift their mask mandate. They along with several other counties are lifting mask mandates for selected businesses, but only when 100% of employees and customers are fully vaccinated. The other Bay Area counties have fared better during the pandemic than Solano County, and are approaching easing up on precautions very cautiously. I strongly encourage you to follow a similar approach.

Thank you for your work helping safeguard our community.

Richard Fleming, MD

MORE

For details on Council’s discussion and outcome, see: “Benicia City Council debates changing mask mandate, decides to keep in place, will review again on Dec. 7“