Category Archives: Fairfield CA

Solano County won’t be moving to orange tier anytime soon

Solano County won’t be moving to orange tier anytime soon

Jenny Ault with Sutter Solano Medical Center directs a woman who had just received the Moderna vaccination to an observation waiting area at the Solano County Fairgrounds in Vallejo earlier this year. (Chris Riley—Times-Herald file)
Jenny Ault with Sutter Solano Medical Center directs a woman who had just received the Moderna vaccination to an observation waiting area at the Solano County Fairgrounds in Vallejo earlier this year. (Chris Riley—Times-Herald file)
Vallejo Times-Herald, by Thomas Gase, March 30, 2021, | UPDATED: March 31, 2021

Although numerous counties in California such as Alameda and Santa Cruz moved from the COVID-19 red tier to the the less restrictive orange tier this week, Solano won’t be joining them anytime soon.

Solano has been in the red tier for three weeks, but recent data has county health officials concerned that there is a slight chance it could be headed backward and into a more restrictive purple tier once again.

“No, we’re not moving into orange this week,” Solano County Public Health Administrator Jayleen Richards said, with a sigh. “Last week we started to see some data not trending upwards. We could actually go from the red tier back to purple if we don’t start following all the guidelines. We’re not there yet, but I’m worried about the slight increase of positive cases.”

Counties must remain in a tier for at least three weeks before moving to a less restrictive tier. Those counties must also meet the next tier’s criteria for two consecutive weeks to move to a less restrictive tier. If a county’s metrics worsen for two consecutive weeks, it will be assigned a more restrictive tier.

There was speculation Tuesday that Napa County was also going to move into the orange. However, it was announced Wednesday that Napa County will have to stay in the stricter red tier after an uptick in cases. That means winery indoor tasting rooms will remained closed for now.

The new tier assignments for Alameda and Santa Cruz counties will take effect on Wednesday.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Solano County has seen 31,121 cases and 197 deaths, according to the Solano County health site. According to the state website (which has often differed from the county site) there has been 5.5 new COVID cases per day as well as a 1.9 positivity rate (7-day average). The health equity quartile positivity rate is 2.3 percent.

“We’re doing really well in the equity rate measure, but we’re not quite there in other categories,” Richards said. “I want to have businesses reopen and be operating just as much as anyone, but we must keep doing things like masking and keeping a safe distance apart to to keep the elderly and vulnerable healthy.”

Taking in the recent data, Richards said Solano wouldn’t go back into a purple tier this week but she worries about the weeks ahead. She also stated that now the earliest that Solano can move ahead to the orange tier is mid-April.

“We’ll know more in about a week or so,” Richards said. “But the fact that the numbers are going in the wrong direction could be attributed to many things. It could be just an overall feeling that people go to a vaccination clinic to get their shots and they have a feeling that everything is back to normal. Then you add that the sun is out and the weather is better, which is causing large groups again. We’re just not quite there yet.”

The orange tier allows for bars that don’t serve food to reopen outdoors, and lets wineries, distilleries and breweries without food service start seating customers inside.

Bowling alleys and cardrooms can reopen as well, and indoor operations at churches, movie theaters, restaurants and museums would be subject to higher capacity limits.

Amusement parks such as Vallejo’s Six Flags Discovery Kingdom got the green light to welcome the public back starting Thursday, as long as their counties are in the red tier or better, under rules the state previously announced.

After Solano County moved into the red tier, the Vallejo City Unified School District announced that some schools are set to return to class on April 12.

The new tier assignment appeared to similarly allow the Oakland A’s to welcome more fans when its season starts Thursday, because the orange stage bumps up capacity limits for stadiums from 20 percent to 33 percent. The San Francisco Giants are also planning on letting fans back in their ballpark in April.

Bay Area News Group writers Nico Savidge and Shayna Rubin contributed to this story.

Vaccination clinic at Solano Fairgrounds in Vallejo this weekend, March 5-7

UPDATE: After this weekend and in the future: Register and find out if it’s your turn at https://myturn.ca.gov/

Free vaccine for 65 years and up, healthcare workers, first responders, emergency services, childcare, Solano School employees, food and agriculture workers (farm, restaurant, grocery workers, etc.)

By Vallejo Times-Herald, March 4, 2021

There will be another COVID-19 vaccine clinic in Vallejo this weekend, this time for people aged 65 years and older.

There are currently still appointment slots available for the COVID-19 vaccine clinics this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Solano County Fairgrounds. Available to Solano County Residents eligible in current distribution tiers include Older Adults (65 years and older), healthcare workers, first responders, emergency services, childcare, Solano School employees, as well as food and agriculture (ex. farm, restaurant, and grocery store workers) as defined by CDPH https://covid19.ca.gov/essential-workforce/.

Vaccinations are no-cost and available to all current eligible groups regardless of health insurance or immigration status.

If you in an eligible category, book an appointment using one of the links. For Friday (bit.ly/sccovax0305), for Saturday (bit.ly/sccovax0306) and for Sunday (bit.ly/sccovax0307).

Solano COVID-19 UPDATE: Jan. avg of 296 new cases per day, avgs for Benicia, Vallejo, Fairfield, Suisun, Rio Vista, Vacaville, Dixon


By Roger Straw, January 28, 2021

Special today: January case numbers and daily averages BY CITY (below).  Stay home whenever possible – this is not over!

Thursday, January 28: 169 new Solano cases overnight, and again, 1 new death.  Since Feb: 27,486 cases, over 820 hospitalized, 122 deaths.Compare previous report, Wednesday, Jan. 27:Summary

[From Solano County Public Health and others, see sources below.  For a running archive of daily County updates, see my Excel ARCHIVE
    • Solano County reported 169 new cases overnight, total of 27,486 cases since the outbreak started.  In the first 28 days of January, Solano has added 8,275 new cases, for an AVERAGE of 296 new cases per day.
    • Deaths – 1 new death reported today, someone over 65 years of age, a total of 122 Solano deaths since the pandemic began.  There have been 17 COVID-related deaths in Solano County over the last 9 days, 2 aged 18-49 years, 15 others over 65 years of age.  While many other COVID stats are improving, these deaths are the final sad result of our holiday surge.
    • Active cases – Solano reported 33 more active cases today, a total of 1,505 active cases.  Compare: Solano’s average number of Active Cases during October was 284, average in November was 650, in December 1,658 – and TODAY we are at 1,505.  Better, but still a LOT!  Is the County equipped to contact trace so many infected persons?  Or do we just sit back and wait for a voluntary 10 day quarantine to expire.  Who knows?  To my knowledge, Solano has offered no reports on contact tracing.
    • Hospitalizations – (See expanding ICU capacity and ventilator availablity below.)  Today, Solano reported 1 fewer currently hospitalized cases, total of 137.  No change today in the number of hospitalizations among age groups.  (The County posted its “occasional” large group of updated numbers on hospitalizations among the age groups yesterday, adding 5 in the 50-64 year age group and 12 more in the 65+ age group, for a total of 820 hospitalized in all age groups since the pandemic began.) Even then, accuracy cannot be certain – note…  >>In a December 31 Fairfield Daily Republic article, reporter Todd Hanson wrote, “Since the start of the pandemic, and as of Wednesday, 9,486 residents have been hospitalized.”  This startling number is far and away above the number of residents hospitalized as indicated in the count of age group hospitalizations, and not available anywhere on the County’s COVID-19 dashboard.  Asked about his source, Hanson replied that Solano Public Health “had to do a little research on my behalf.”  It would be good if the County could add Total Hospitalized to its daily Dashboard update.  [For the numbers used in my manual calculation of total hospitalizations, see age group stats belowFor COVID19-CA.GOV numbers, see BenIndy page, COVID-19 Hospitalizations Daily Update for Solano County.]
    • ICU Beds – Solano hospitals recently expanded their ICU capacity [see Benicia Independent, “Why the sudden improvement in our ICU bed numbers?“]  Even with the expanded ICU capacity, Solano County has dropped into the YELLOW DANGER ZONE in ICU beds available today, but up from 10% yesterday, to 17% today.  The State’s COVID19-CA.GOV reported today that Solano County had ONLY 6 AVAILABLE ICU BEDS as of yesterday, January 27(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.)
    • Ventilators available – This week, for the first time since July 24 of last year, Solano County is reporting the percentage of ventilators available.  Today Solano hospitals have 41% of ventilators available, up from 26% yesterday but down substantially from last summer’s reports of 82-94% available.
Positive Test Rate – SOLANO TEST RATE REMAINS ALARMINGLY HIGH, 16.9% – VIRUS STILL SPREADING, STAY HOME!

Solano County reported our 7-day average positive test at an alarming rate of 16.9%, down a bit from yesterday’s 17.3%, but still more than 2 times 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.  COMPARE: The much lower and more stable California 7-day average test rate was down slightly from yesterday’s 7.7% to 7.5% today(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 overnight, total of 3,192 cases, representing 11.6% of the 27,486 total cases.  No new hospitalizations reported today among this age group, total of 17 since the outbreak began.  Thankfully, no deaths have ever been reported in Solano County in this age groupBut 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% may seem low.  The significance is this: youth are SERIOUSLY NOT IMMUNE (!) – in fact at least 17 of our youth have been hospitalized since the outbreak began.
  • Persons 18-49 years of age – 97 new cases overnight, total of 15,183 cases. This age group is 41% of the population in Solano, but represents 55.3% 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 241 are reported to have been hospitalized since the outbreak began.  Solano recorded no new deaths in this young group today, total of 9 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 – 38 new cases overnight, total of 5,732 cases.  This age group represents 20.9% of the 27,486 total cases.  The County reported no new hospitalizations among persons in this age group today.  A total of 222 are reported to have been hospitalized since the outbreak began.  No new deaths were reported in this age group today, a total of 18 deaths.
  • Persons 65 years or older – 16 new cases overnight, total of 3,368, representing a high of 12.3% of Solano’s 27,486 total cases.  The County reported no new hospitalizations among persons in this age group today, a total of 340 hospitalized since the outbreak began.  1 new death was reported in this age group today.  A total of 95 of our elders have died of COVID, accounting for 78% of Solano’s 122 total deaths.
City Data
  • Benicia added 5 new cases overnight, total of 774 cases since the outbreak began.  266 new cases in January, avg. of 9.5 per day.
  • Dixon added 5 new cases overnight, total of 1,638 cases.  417 new cases in January, avg. of 15 per day.
  • Fairfield added 38 new cases overnight, total of 7,590 cases.  2,147 new cases in January, avg. of 77 per day.
  • Rio Vista added 1 new cases today, total of 262 cases.  97 new cases in January, avg. of 3 per day.
  • Suisun City added 14 new cases overnight, total of 1,879 cases.  533 new cases in January, avg. of 19 per day.
  • Vacaville added 33 new cases overnight, total of 7,223 cases.  2,369 new cases in January, avg. of 85 per day.
  • Vallejo added 73 new cases overnight, total of 8034 cases.  2,421 new cases in January, avg. of 86 per day.
  • Unincorporated areas remained steady today, total of 86 cases.  25 new cases in January, avg. of nearly 1 per day.
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 12% of cases, 12% of hospitalizations, and 17% of deaths.
  • Black Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 11% of cases, but 17% of hospitalizations, and 22% of deaths.
  • Latinx Americans are 26% of Solano’s population, but account for 13% of cases, 22% of hospitalizations, and 15% of deaths.
  • Multi-race / Others are 7% of Solano’s population, but account for 35% of cases, 18% of hospitalizations, and 12% of deaths.
  • White Americans are 39% of the population in Solano County, but only account for 29% of cases, 30% 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.

Source
Source: Solano County Coronavirus Dashboard (posted on the County website late today).  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.

Solano County sets single-day record for new positive COVID-19 cases, 486 reported ill today


By Roger Straw, December 24, 2020  [Sources: see below.]

Thursday, December 24: 486 new cases overnight, no new deaths.  Since Feb: 17,330 cases, more than 725 hospitalized, 95 deaths.Compare previous report, Wednesday, Dec. 23:Summary

    • Solano County reported 486 (!!) new cases overnight, A NEW SINGLE-DAY RECORD INCREASE IN POSITIVE CASESIn just the last 14 days, Solano has seen an increase of 4,764 new cases.  We’re averaging 340 (!!) new cases every day! (source: covid19.ca.gov Total of 17,330 cases since the outbreak started.
    • Deaths – No new deaths reported today, a total of 95 Solano deaths since the pandemic began.
    • Active casesSolano reported 135 more active cases today for a total of 1,555 active casesSolano’s average number of Active Cases during October was 284, average in November was 650 – and TODAY we are at 1,555!  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 – CAUTION ON SOLANO HEALTH DEPARTMENT 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 reported 4 fewer CURRENTLY hospitalized persons, total of 118.  And among the age groups, the County reported no change in hospitalization numbers, for a continuing total of 728 persons hospitalized since the outbreak began.  [For the numbers used in my manual calculation of total hospitalizations, see age group stats belowFor COVID19-CA.GOV numbers, see BenIndy page, COVID-19 Hospitalizations Daily Update for Solano County.]
    • ICU Beds – Solano County reported only 21% available today, up from 15% yesterday, still in the YELLOW DANGER ZONECOVID19-CA.GOV reported today that Solano hospitals had 12 available ICU beds as of yesterday, December 23(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.)
    • Testing – The County report on COVID-19 testing today showed “UNAVAILABLE.”  As of yesterday, Solano had tested a total of 159,358 unduplicated residents since the outbreak began.  35.6% of Solano County’s 447,643 residents (2019) have been tested.
Positive Test Rate – 1 IN EVERY 5 TESTED IS POSITIVE – VIRUS SPREADING LIKE WILDFIRE

Solano County reported our 7-day average positive test rate today at 20.9%, up from yesterday’s 18.6%, 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 an alarming rise lately, down from yesterday’s 12.6% to 12.1% today(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 – Continuing the post-Thanksgiving surge, especially in age groups 18-49 and 50-64 years
  • Youth 17 and under – 42 new cases today, total of 1,931 cases, representing 11.2% of the 17,330 total cases.  No new hospitalizations reported today among this age group, total of 17 since the outbreak began.  Thankfully, no deaths have ever been reported in Solano County in this age groupBut 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 – 237 (!!) new cases today, total of 9,945 cases. This age group is 41% of the population in Solano, but represents nearly 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 233 are reported to have been hospitalized since the outbreak began.  Solano recorded no new deaths in this young group today, total of 7 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 – 142 (!!) new cases today, total of 3,552 cases.  This age group represents just over 20% of the 17,330 total cases.  The County reported no new hospitalizations among persons in this age group today.  A total of 196 are reported to 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 – 65 (!) new cases today, total of 1,828, representing 10.9% of Solano’s 17,330 total cases.  The County reported no new hospitalizations among persons in this age group today.  A total of 282 have been hospitalized since the outbreak began.  No new deaths were reported in this age group today.  A total of 72 of our elders have died of COVID, accounting for 76% of Solano’s 95 total deaths.
City Data
  • Benicia added 9 new cases today, total of 469 cases since the outbreak began. 
  • Dixon added 19 new cases today, total of 1138 cases.
  • Fairfield added 91 (!) new cases today, total of 4,957 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 4 new cases today, total of 143 cases.
  • Suisun City added 27 new cases today, total of 1,207 cases.
  • Vacaville added 265 (!!!) new cases today, total of 4,185 cases.  Something is happening in Vacaville – stay tuned!
  • Vallejo added 71 new cases today, total of 5,170 cases.
  • Unincorporated areas remained steady today, total of 61 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 18% of deaths.
  • Black Americans are 14% of Solano’s population, and account for 11% of cases, but 16% of hospitalizations, and 21% of deaths.
  • Latinx Americans are 26% of Solano’s population, but account for 18% of cases, 25% of hospitalizations, and 17% of deaths.
  • White Americans are 39% of the population in Solano County, but only account for 28% of cases, 29% of hospitalizations and 32% 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.

Source
Source: Solano County Coronavirus Dashboard (posted on the County website late today, around 8pm).  For a complete archive of County updates, see my Excel ARCHIVEALSO 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.