COVID19.CA.GOV is the only WEEKEND source of information on the coronavirus in Solano County. The hospitalization details ON THE MAP below are current as of now, and are automatically updated here on the Benicia Independent with each new day’s report from CA.GOV.
For the record, COVID-19 Hospital Data as of Sunday Dec. 13:
Positive Patients
103
Suspected Patients
10
ICU Positive Patients
29
ICU Suspected Patients
1
ICU Available Beds
8
Hover your mouse over items below to see detailed data, including numbers on a given date.
COVID19.CA.GOV is the only WEEKEND source of information on the coronavirus in Solano County. The hospitalization details below are current as of now, and are automatically updated here on the Benicia Independent with each new day’s report from CA.GOV.
Hover your mouse over items to see detailed data, including numbers on a given date.
How Bay Area ICU capacity compares to the most impacted areas in California, nation
San Francisco Chronicle, by Kellie Hwang, Dec. 11, 2020
Nurse Waymond Jones (left) Respiratory Therapist Laura Sandoval (center) and nurse Larry Ngiraswei (right) prepare to prone a COVID-19 patient in the ICU at Regional Medical Center of San Jose, an acute-care hospital, on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020 in San Jose, California. Following Thanksgiving there has been an uptick in COVID-19 cases all over California and the Bay Area. Photo: Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle
Hospitals in the Bay Area, California and across the nation are running short of intensive care unit beds as the latest coronavirus surge sets new records for cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
On Thursday, California reported a record 2,710 ICU hospitalizations, and four of five state regions, including part of the Bay Area, were under the regional stay-at-home order issued last week by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The order is triggered when available ICU hospital capacity dips below 15%.
The five regions, based on California’s mutual aid system and emergency response networks, are the Bay Area, Southern California, the San Joaquin Valley, Greater Sacramento and Northern California.
The Southern California region, with 7.7% ICU availability as of Thursday, and the San Joaquin Valley, with just 1.9% availability, fell under the stay-at-home order last weekend. Restrictions went into effect overnight Thursday for the Greater Sacramento area, with 13.3% availability.
The Bay Area region was at 17.8% available ICU capacity Thursday, though five of its 11 counties — San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara and Marin — have voluntarily tightened restrictions in line with the state order. Sonoma County announced Thursday it will join them this weekend. Northern California had the highest ICU availability in the state, at 30.3%.
Critical shortages are occurring across the nation. On Monday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services began releasing COVID-19 hospital capacity data at the facility level, aggregating daily hospital reports and sharing them on a weekly basis. The New York Times has created an interactive map detailing the ICU capacity throughout the U.S. [BenIndy editor: The NYTimes map shows Fairfield (22 of 30 ICU beds occupied, 75% on Dec. 9) as well as Vallejo (20 of 24, 81%) and Vacaville (10 of 11, 91%). It’s a little hard to navigate the map, but worth it for the numbers. – R.S.]
Here are the ICU occupancy rates for both the most-impacted and the largest high-population locations in the Bay Area, compared with California and the U.S., according to the data released Monday. The figures are based on seven-day average patient count by hospital service area.
Daly City: 100% of ICU beds occupied
Santa Rosa: 95% of ICU beds occupied
Vacaville: 91% of ICU beds occupied
South San Francisco: 90% of ICU beds occupied
San Leandro: 90% of ICU beds occupied
Petaluma: 88% of ICU beds occupied
Martinez: 83% of ICU beds occupied
Fremont: 83% of ICU beds occupied
Vallejo: 81% of ICU beds occupied
Castro Valley: 80% of ICU beds occupied
Sonoma County
In Santa Rosa, the largest city in Sonoma County, ICUs are 95% full. Sonoma County did not initially join the five Bay Area counties in adopting the stay-at-home measure, but officials announced Thursday that the county would adopt it starting Saturday at 12:01 a.m.
“Although Sonoma County has fared better until now than other parts of the state in terms of demand on our hospitals, we have been seeing an alarming increase in cases and hospitalizations in recent days, and this is putting increased strain on our medical resources,” county health officer Dr. Sundari Mase said in a news release. “We feel we have no choice but to join the other Bay Area counties in preemptively adopting the governor’s Stay-Home order.”
Mase noted that hospitalizations in Sonoma are near the county’s highest ever, and that coronavirus case rates are at their highest since the pandemic began. “We also are seeing a wider geographic spread of infection,” Mase said. She tied the increases to the surge in cases across the nation as well as large gatherings in the county, including over Halloween and Thanksgiving.
At a community briefing on Wednesday, the most recent ICU available capacity was reported at 11.6% in Sonoma County. ICU beds occupied in Sonoma are at 57%, Healdsburg is at 20% and Petaluma stands at 88%. The county removed hospital capacity data from its website, and the Press Democrat reported that officials are working with the state to fix discrepancies between the county and state websites.
MOST IMPACTED CALIFORNIA
Daly City: 100% of ICU beds occupied
Huntington Beach (Orange County): 100% of ICU beds occupied
Ventura: 99% of ICU beds occupied
Upland (San Bernardino County): 97% of ICU beds occupied
Chula Vista (San Diego County): 97% of ICU beds occupied
Oxnard (Ventura County): 96% of ICU beds occupied
Victorville (San Bernardino County): 95% of ICU beds occupied
Thousand Oaks (Ventura County): 95% of ICU beds occupied
Santa Rosa: 95% of ICU beds occupied
Fresno: 95% of ICU beds occupied
Lynwood (Los Angeles County): 95% of ICU beds occupied
Northridge (Los Angeles County): 95% of ICU beds occupied
Arcadia (Los Angeles County): 94% of ICU beds occupied
Redlands (San Bernardino County): 94% of ICU beds occupied
Fontana (San Bernardino County): 93% of ICU beds occupied
In Ventura County, the cities of Ventura, Oxnard, Thousand Oaks and Camarillo are all at more than 95% ICU capacity. The county is grouped in the Southern California region, which is under the regional stay-at-home order. County supervisors have unanimously voted to propose a new region that would include Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, which have much higher available ICU capacity and therefore likely could remove restrictions on businesses sooner.
MOST IMPACTED U.S.
Albuquerque, N.M.: 116% of ICU beds occupied
Baton Rouge, La.: 109% of ICU beds occupied
Ogden, Utah: 107% of ICU beds occupied
Upland, Pa.: 106% of ICU beds occupied
Easton, Pa.: 104% of ICU beds occupied
Abington, Pa.: 102% of ICU beds occupied)
Pompano Beach, Fla.: 100% of ICU beds occupied
Port St. Lucie, Fla.: 100% of ICU beds occupied
Dothan, Ala.: 100% of ICU beds occupied
Douglasville, Ga.: 100% of ICU beds occupied
Wailuku, Hawaii: 100% of ICU beds occupied
Chicago Heights, Ill.: 100% of ICU beds occupied
Leonardtown, Md.: 100% of ICU beds occupied
St. Joseph, Mo.: 100% of ICU beds occupied
St. Cloud, Minn.: 100% of ICU beds occupied
Albuquerque
The hospital service area that includes Albuquerque shows the highest ICU occupancy in the nation at 116%. In mid-November, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham tightened restrictions statewide in hopes of reducing the virus spread, but that wasn’t enough. On Nov. 20, a backup hospital in Albuquerque was opened to relieve the strain. Now hospitals are reaching surge capacity at nearly 1,000 hospitalizations daily. Officials are preparing to ration care to coronavirus patients, with the only criterion being whether a person is likely to survive.
TOP LARGEST LOCATIONS IN THE BAY AREA GROUP
San Francisco: 72% of ICU beds occupied
Oakland: 62% of ICU beds occupied
Santa Rosa: 95% of ICU beds occupied
San Jose: 68% of ICU beds occupied
Greenbrae: 59% of ICU beds occupied
Napa: 45% of ICU beds occupied
Vallejo: 81% of ICU beds occupied
Daly City: 100% of ICU beds occupied
Concord: 78% of ICU beds occupied
Salinas: 61% of ICU beds occupied
Santa Cruz: 76% of ICU beds occupied
TOP LARGEST CALIFORNIA CITIES
Los Angeles: 80% of ICU beds occupied
San Diego: 65% of ICU beds occupied
San Jose: 68% of ICU beds occupied
San Francisco: 72% of ICU beds occupied
Fresno: 95% of ICU beds occupied
Sacramento: 83% of ICU beds occupied
Long Beach: 51% of ICU beds occupied
Oakland: 62% of ICU beds occupied
Bakersfield: 75% of ICU beds occupied
Anaheim: 87% of ICU beds occupied
Santa Ana: 37% of ICU beds occupied
Riverside: 88% of ICU beds occupied
Stockton: 90% of ICU beds occupied
Irvine: No ICU data reported from local hospitals
Chula Vista: 97% of ICU beds occupied
Chula VIsta
Chula Vista, in San Diego County, has the highest percentage of ICU beds occupied at 97%. San Diego County’s hospitals have seen a crush of coronavirus admissions since late November, and some facilities have reported that they are already utilizing surge beds, concerned about an increase of cases due to the Thanksgiving holiday.
TOP LARGEST U.S. CITIES
New York City: 78% of ICU beds occupied
Los Angeles: 80% of ICU beds occupied
Chicago: 65% of ICU beds occupied
Houston: 91% of ICU beds occupied
Phoenix: 64% of ICU beds occupied
Philadelphia: 84% of ICU beds occupied
San Antonio: 91% of ICU beds occupied
San Diego: 65% of ICU beds occupied
Dallas: 93% of ICU beds occupied
San Jose: 68% of ICU beds occupied
Austin, Texas: 85% of ICU beds occupied
Jacksonville, Fla.: 79% of ICU beds occupied
Fort Worth, Texas: 92% of ICU beds occupied
Columbus, Ohio: 83% of ICU beds occupied
Charlotte, N.C.: 81% of ICU beds occupied
Texas
Dallas has the lowest ICU capacity on this list, with just 7% of ICU beds available. Dallas County recently reported the second-highest daily death toll in the pandemic, and the county had to lower business capacity from 75% to 50% on Dec. 3 after going over the 15% ICU capacity threshold.
Fort Worth, in Texas’ Tarrant County, follows closely behind with 92% of ICU beds occupied. The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s office is near storage capacity for bodies, so two refrigerated trucks have been brought in and are expected to be used soon.
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.
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 dayover 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.]
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 stableCalifornia 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.
Vallejoadded 96 (!) new cases today, total of 3,676 cases.
Unincorporated areasadded 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.
COVID19.CA.GOV is the only WEEKEND source of information on the coronavirus in Solano County. The hospitalization details ON THE MAP below are current as of now, and are automatically updated here on the Benicia Independent with each new day’s report from CA.GOV.
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