Category Archives: Hospitalizations

Benicia CA, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Vaccine

Daily update on COVID in Solano County, 21 new cases today

By Roger Straw, Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Solano COVID report: 21 new cases today, no new deaths.

Solano County COVID report on Wednesday, April 28:
[Source: see far below.  See also my ARCHIVE spreadsheet of daily Solano COVID updates.]
Solano County COVID-19 Dashboard – SUMMARY:

On April 28, Solano County reported only 21 new COVID cases, a well below our average of 39 new cases per day during the first two weeks of April.  Reports are that Solano will not be joining all other Bay Area counties in the State’s orange tier anytime soon.  Solano’s Active cases remained basically even today, rising from 330 to 336.  Our percent positivity rate remained at 5.5%.

Cases among youth and young adults increasing

Since last summer, cases among children 0-17 years of age have increased dramatically as a percentage of total cases.  This chart shows the changes among age groups over the past 11 months.

Hospitalizations – very little information…

The Solano County COVID dashboard Summary tab only shows total hospitalizations for the current day (22 today, see image at top of page).  This number represents the total hospitalized after yesterday’s admissions and discharges.  Little can be learned from this about the accumulated total of hospitalizations.

Screenshot from Solano’s Demographics Tab, Hospitalizations by Age Group.  Click image for larger view.

On the Demographics tab of the County dashboard, the County “occasionally” updates the accumulated total of hospitalizations by age groups.  These numbers have not been updated since early April, so it isn’t possible to determine whether there has been an increasing number of hospitalizations among our children and young adults.  I have asked Public Health Officer Dr. Bela Matyas for an update on these numbers.  Meanwhile, age group hospitalization totals on the dashboard are dated, but interesting:

Solano County Total COVID Hospitalizations by AGE GROUPS as of Early April
Hospitalizations
Age 0-17		 Hospitalizations
Age 18-49		 Hospitalizations
Age 50-64		 Hospitalizations
Age 65+
    26     324     329     591

>> The virus is still on the move here.  Stay safe, get vaccinated, wear a mask and social distance!  We will get through this together.

Cases by City on April 28:

  • Benicia added 3 new cases today, total of 953 cases since the outbreak began.
  • Dixon added 1 new case today, total of 1,854 cases.
  • Fairfield added only only 2 new cases today, total of 8,792 cases.
  • Rio Vista remained steady today, total of 366 cases.
  • Suisun City added 1 new case today, total of 2,211 cases.
  • Vacaville added 6 new cases today, total of 8,450 cases.
  • Vallejo added 8 new cases today, total of 9,638 cases.
  • Unincorporated areas remained steady today, total of 102 cases.

COMPARE: Screenshots from Solano County COVID Dashboard on Tuesday, April 27:

The data on this page is from today’s and the previous Solano County COVID-19 Dashboard.  The Dashboard is full of much more information and updated weekdays around 4pm.  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 CA, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Vaccine

COVID in Solano County – 32 new cases, little info on hospitalizations

By Roger Straw, Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Solano COVID report: 32 new cases today, no new deaths.

Solano County COVID report on Tuesday, April 27:
[Source: see far below.  See also my ARCHIVE spreadsheet of daily Solano COVID updates.]
Solano County COVID-19 Dashboard – SUMMARY:

On April 27, Solano County reported 32 new COVID cases, a bit below our average of 39 new cases per day during the first two weeks of April.  Reports are that Solano will not be joining all other Bay Area counties in the State’s orange tier anytime soon.  Solano’s Active cases rose dramatically today from 214 to 330.  Our percent positivity rate rose slightly from 5.4% to 5.5%.

Cases among youth and young adults increasing

Of the 32 new cases today, 11 of them, over a third, were among children 0-17 years of age. today.  Another 15, almost half of the total, were among those aged 18-49.  The County reports a continued low in numbers among those aged 50-64 (only 4 new cases today) and those aged 65+ (only 2 new cases today)!  This chart shows the changes among age groups over the past 11 months.

Hospitalizations – very little information…
Click image for larger view

The Solano County COVID dashboard Summary tab only shows total hospitalizations for the current day (20 today, see at top of page).  This number represents the total hospitalized after yesterday’s admissions and discharges.  Little can be learned from this about the accumulated total of hospitalizations.  On the Demographics tab of the County dashboard, the County “occasionally” updates the accumulated total of hospitalizations by age groups.  These numbers have not been updated since early April, so it isn’t possible to determine whether there has been an increasing number of hospitalizations among our children and young adults.  I have asked Public Health Officer Dr. Bela Matyas for an update on these numbers.  Meanwhile, age group hospitalization totals on the dashboard are dated, but interesting:

Solano County Total COVID Hospitalizations by AGE GROUPS as of Early April
Hospitalizations
Age 0-17		 Hospitalizations
Age 18-49		 Hospitalizations
Age 50-64		 Hospitalizations
Age 65+
    26     324     329     591

>> The virus is still on the move here.  Stay safe, get vaccinated, wear a mask and social distance!  We will get through this together.

Cases by City on April 27:

  • Benicia added 2 new cases today, total of 950 cases since the outbreak began.
  • Dixon added 4 new cases today, total of 1,853 cases.
  • Fairfield added only 6 new cases today, total of 8,790 cases.
  • Rio Vista remained steady today, total of 366 cases.
  • Suisun City added 1 new case today, total of 2,210 cases.
  • Vacaville added 10 new cases today, total of 8,444 cases.
  • Vallejo added 9 new cases today, total of 9,630 cases.
  • Unincorporated areas remained steady today, total of 102 cases.

COMPARE: Screenshots from Solano County COVID Dashboard on Monday, April 26:

The data on this page is from today’s and the previous Solano County COVID-19 Dashboard.  The Dashboard is full of much more information and updated weekdays around 4pm.  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
Coronavirus, Covid 19, Hospitalizations, ICU, Intensive Care Units (ICUs), San Francisco Bay Area

Surge: Some ambulances forced to wait hours as Bay Area ICU availability plunges

California, Bay Area hospitals strain amid crush of ICU patients

San Francisco Chronicle, By Jill Tucker, January 2, 2021
A COVID-19 patient who has had a stroke is prepared to be flown from one hospital to another on Dec. 22. Hospitals across California are straining to keep up with the surge.
A COVID-19 patient who has had a stroke is prepared to be flown from one hospital to another on Dec. 22. Hospitals across California are straining to keep up with the surge. Photo: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

The Bay Area’s intensive care unit availability dipped to 5.1% — its lowest figure yet — on the second day of the new year, even as the state braces for a further surge from Christmas and New Year’s celebrations.

The situation has gotten so difficult in Santa Clara County that some ambulances are sitting outside emergency rooms for up to seven hours waiting for a bed to open up for the patients they are carrying, county health officials said.

The delays — which mean the waiting ambulances cannot respond to other calls — have caused the San Jose Fire Department to transport people to emergency rooms at least a half-dozen times in the past week, the county officials said.

It’s a problem that’s already well known to the hard-hit Los Angeles area, where ambulances have waited for up to eight hours outside a hospital before patients could be moved inside, according to the Associated Press. In some cases, doctors started treating cases inside the vehicles.

Across the state, the outlook remained bleak, with a record 4,531 coronavirus patients in California intensive care units on Friday and the number of cases continuing to rise. The state recorded 53,341 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the second highest single-day figure, and another 386 deaths.

Available intensive care unit capacity in the Greater Sacramento region dropped sharply on Saturday, from 11.5% on Friday to 6.9%. The region, which includes the California side of Lake Tahoe, remains under a stay-home order, as do the Bay Area, the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California. The latter two regions are drawing heavily on hospital surge capacity, since their regular ICUs have zero availability.

Experts fear it’s unlikely to get better anytime soon, because it’s still too early for hospitals to see the effects from a Christmas surge.

“Admission to the ICU is often 10 to 12 days after exposure,” said Dr. Robert Siegel, a Stanford virologist. “The number of deaths may continue to increase for another week or more.”

Siegel also expects spikes from Christmas gatherings “will merge with, and contribute to surges” from New Year’s gatherings.

The ambulance wait times in Santa Clara County could be an alarming sign of things to come. The county saw a record number of COVID-19 deaths Friday — 38.

Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian, who co-chairs the Health and Hospital Committee at the Board of Supervisors, said wait times for ambulances are not uncommon during busy times of the week or during holidays. But they typically last no more than an hour — not seven.

“Whatever the period of time is, it’s always a concern because by definition you have folks you want to have admitted as soon as possible, and you want to have an ambulance crew on the road as quickly as possible,” Simitian said.

The combination of New Year’s Eve and COVID may have added stress on the county’s emergency system, he said.

“When you put together New Year’s Eve compounded by the COVID crisis, there are going to be some outliers that are troubling,” he said. “My understanding is they were relatively few in number — but obviously that’s cold comfort if you’re the one waiting for an ambulance.”

James Williams, the Santa Clara County counsel, said the county’s hospital system has been “teetering on the edge,” since a post-Thanksgiving surge in virus hospitalizations. He fears that another, similar surge, would greatly exacerbate what is already a problem with wait times at hospitals.

“If we have another surge now, anything like what we had after Thanksgiving — it’s going to cause collapse,” Williams said. Unlike March, the county cannot just make room by transporting patients to other facilities in California or another state. Santa Clara County has contingency plans for how to provide “some level of support” to those who may need it during a potential surge. But, Williams warned, those contingency plans would not be “providing everyone with the level of medical care that we take for granted in the United States.”

The virus continued its indiscriminate path through the population, infecting the young, old, famous and infamous. Talk show host Larry King, 87, was hospitalized with the virus, according to reports Saturday, while Dawn Wells, who played Mary Ann on “Gilligan’s Island,” died Wednesday. And at least one person was hospitalized after a New York Republican club’s Christmas party featuring an unmasked conga line.

Between pandemic fatigue and the holidays, the current surge will probably continue well into January, with hospitals, funeral homes and nursing homes continuing to see the fallout. State prisons also continued to see a surge, with 6,510 reported cases in the last two weeks — a sizable portion of the 40,985 incarcerated people who have had COVID-19 at some point.

Across Southern California, where the virus has hit the hardest, mortuaries have had to turn away families due to lack of space for all the bodies — and with funeral homes filling up, there’s a backup of bodies at hospitals, Los Angeles County Director of Health and Human Services Dr. Christina Ghaly told the Associated Press. The county medical examiner is looking for alternatives to store the bodies, she said.

Although thousands of California front-line workers have received vaccines, there is no impact yet on case counts. But the idea of a vaccine may be having something of behavioral impact, for good or for bad, according to Stanford’s Siegel.

“Some people have increased their precautions with the realization that it would be tragic to be infected when their turn to be vaccinated may be just around the corner,” he said. “Other people have increased their risk behavior knowing they will soon be protected or knowing that other people around them are vaccinated.”

Chronicle staff writer Michael Williams contributed to this report.  Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.

Coronavirus, Covid 19, Hospitalizations, ICU, Intensive Care Units (ICUs), Solano County CA

Over 300 NEW cases in Solano County over the weekend, more than 1,000 ACTIVE cases, positive test rate at 12.8%

It’s coming, why wait?  Solano County COVID numbers show need for shutdown now…

By Roger Straw, December 7, 2020

Unlike his colleagues in neighboring counties, Solano County Public Health Officer Dr. Bela Matyas prefers to wait for Governor Newsom’s regional stay-at-home order.  I have studied the numbers on a daily basis since April, and I think Matyas’ decision is incredibly unwise.  This post-Thanksgiving outbreak is different from our earlier surges.  We are in for a dramatic rise in COVID infections and hospitalizations now through mid-January.

So we need to take extra precautions, NOW.  Your best advice is to 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 Monday numbers – take note!

[Source: Solano County Coronavirus Dashboard.  For a complete archive of County updates, see my Excel ARCHIVE.  ALSO see important daily updates from another source, COVID19.CA.GOV: here on the BenIndy at Cases and Deaths AND Hospitalizations AND ICU Beds by REGION.]

Monday, December 7: 334 (!) new cases over the weekend, no new deaths.  Since Feb: 11,747 cases, more than 600 hospitalized, 85 deaths.Compare previous report, Friday, Dec. 4:Summary

  • Solano County reported 334 (!) new cases over the weekend.  As of today, Solano has seen an average of 142 new cases per day over the last 14 days! (source: covid19.ca.gov)  Total of 11,747 cases since the outbreak started.
  • Deaths – no new deaths reported today, total of 85 Solano deaths since the pandemic began.
  • Active cases – Solano reported 116 fewer active cases today.  New total of 1,080 active cases.  Active cases have increased alarmingly lately – COMPARE: average number of Active Cases during October was 284 – today we are at 1,080!  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 best 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 2, total of 68, 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 this figure at a later date.  [For my manual calculation of total hospitalizations, see age group stats below.]
  • ICU Beds – (For detailed 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 decrease in ICU beds available today, down from 35% to 33%.
  • Testing – The County reports today that 4,680 residents were tested over the weekend, a total of 135,052 unduplicated residents tested for COVID-19 since the outbreak began.  30.1% 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%, down from Friday’s 16.8%, but 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 rose substantially today from Friday’s 8.5% to 10.5%.  (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 – 29 (!) new cases today, total of 1,328 cases, representing 11.3% of the 11,747 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 – 208 (!) new cases today, total of 6,891 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 – 72 (!) new cases today, total of 2,299 cases.  This age group represents nearly 20% of the 11,747 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 – 24 new cases today, total of 1,222, representing 10.4% of Solano’s 11,747 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 in this age group today, total of 63 of our elders who died of COVID, accounting for 74% of Solano’s 85 total deaths.
City Data
  • Benicia added 12 (!) new cases today, total of 312 cases since the outbreak began. 
  • Dixon added 26 (!) new cases today, total of 840 cases.
  • Fairfield added 72 new cases today, total of 3,502 cases.
  • Rio Vista remained steady today, total of 97 cases.
  • Suisun City added 29 (!) new cases today, total of 818 cases.
  • Vacaville added 98 (!) new cases today, total of 2,461 cases.
  • Vallejo added 96 (!) new cases today, total of 3,676 cases.
  • Unincorporated areas added 1 new case today, total of 41 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 12% of cases, but 16% of hospitalizations, and 23% of deaths.
  • Latinx Americans are 26% of Solano’s population, but account for 22% of cases, 26% of hospitalizations, and 18% of deaths.
  • White Americans are 39% of the population in Solano County, but only account for 26% of cases, 28% 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.