Category Archives: Solano County Health Department

#wearamask, Benicia CA, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Delta variant, Face coverings, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine

Solano County reports only 82 new COVID infections (but transmission remains HIGH)

By Roger Straw, Wednesday, October 6, 2021

Wednesday, October 6: Solano County reports 82 new infections, 13 in Benicia

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

DEATHS: Solano reported no new COVID-related deaths today.  Solano deaths over the course of the pandemic now total 305.  The County reported 32 COVID deaths over the last 32 days.

CASES: The County reported 82 new COVID cases over the last two days, 41 per day.  AGES: 13 of these 82 cases (16%) were youth and children under 18.  59% were age 18-49, 21% were age 50-64, and only 6% were 65+.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen 451 new cases, down from 639 on Monday but still just barely in the CDC’s population-based definition of a HIGH transmission rate.

(CDC FORMULA: Based on Solano County population of 449,432, the CDC would rate us in “SUBSTANTIAL” transmission with 225 cases over the last 7 days.  Double that, or 450 cases in the last 7 days would rank us in “HIGH” transmission.  Reference: CDC’s “Level of SARS-CoV-2 Community Transmission”.]

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 467 ACTIVE cases is down from Monday’s 514, but still far above our summer rates.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Solano’s 7-day average percent positivity rate was only 6.2% today, down from Monday’s 6.7%.  COMPARE: today’s California rate is 1.9% and today’s U.S. rate is 6.3%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking Center]

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations were down today from 53 to 50 persons, and still in the range we saw during the winter surge.

ICU Bed Availability is up today, from 23% to 29%, but still in the yellow danger zone.  Again, we are in the worrisome range we saw during the winter surge.

Ventilator Availability is down today from 53% to 49%, still in the range of last February’s winter surge.

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.  The County did not update its Hospitalizations charts today.  See below.  The differing race/ethnicity numbers indicate a number of persons whose race/ethnicity was not given or recorded.

FACE MASKS… Required for all in Benicia and Vallejo

Benicia City Council passed a citywide indoors mask mandate that went into effect on August 24 and includes everyone 4 years old and up when indoors in public places, even those of us who are vaccinated.  Benicia was joined by Vallejo on August 31.  In the Bay Area, Solano County REMAINS the only holdout against a mask mandate for public indoors spaces.

OLD NEWS BUT SIGNIFICANT – SOLANO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS failed to consider an agendized proposal for a countywide MASK MANDATE on Tuesday, September 14.  The Board’s agenda called for discussion of an indoors mask mandate for all and a vaccination mandate for county workers.  The Board voted 4-1 to require county-run facilities in Vallejo and Benicia to abide by local mandates.  But the Board voted down the vaccination mandate 3-2, and failed to even consider the agendized question of a county-wide mask mandate.  The Solano Board of Supervisors joined with Dr. Bela Matyas in officially showing poor leadership on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cases by City on Wednesday, October 6:
  • Benicia added 13 new cases today, a total of 1,460 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia has seen 38 new cases over the last 7 days, continuing in the CDC’s definition of HIGH community transmission (defined as 28 or more cases, based on Benicia population).  [Note that Solano County is at a level of HIGH transmission, and Solano’s 6 other cities are likely also individually experiencing high or substantial transmission.]
  • Dixon added 6 new cases today, total of 2,493 cases.
  • Fairfield added 14 new cases today, total of 11,994 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 5 new case today, total of 576 cases.
  • Suisun City added 4 new cases today, total of 3,170 cases.
  • Vacaville added 13 new cases today, a total of 11,749 cases.
  • Vallejo added 27 new cases today, a total of 13,123 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 0 new cases today, a total of 139 cases (population figures not available).

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

Solano County Monday update: 8 COVID dead, 169 new infections

By Roger Straw, Monday, October 4, 2021

Monday, October 4: Solano County reports 8 COVID deaths and 169 new infections

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

DEATHS: Solano reported 8 new COVID-related deaths today, one age 50-64 and seven over 65.  The County accounted for race/ethnicity of six of the eight: 1 Hispanic, 4 White and 1 Multirace.  Solano deaths over the course of the pandemic now total 305.  The County reported 32 COVID deaths over the last 30 days.

CASES: The County reported  169 new COVID cases over the weekend, 54 per day.  AGES: 33 of these 169 cases (20%) were youth and children under 18.  49% were age 18-49, 19% were age 50-64, and only 12% were 65+.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen 639 new cases, up from 518 on Friday and decidedly in the CDC’s population-based definition of a HIGH transmission rate.

(CDC FORMULA: Based on Solano County population of 449,432, the CDC would rate us in “SUBSTANTIAL” transmission with 225 cases over the last 7 days.  Double that, or 450 cases in the last 7 days would rank us in “HIGH” transmission.  Reference: CDC’s “Level of SARS-CoV-2 Community Transmission”.]

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 514 ACTIVE cases is down from Friday’s 545, but still far above our summer rates.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Solano’s 7-day average percent positivity rate was only 6.7% today, down from Friday’s 7.8%.  COMPARE: today’s California rate is 2.0% and today’s U.S. rate is 6.4%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking Center]

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations were up today from 46 to 53 persons, and still in the range we saw during the winter surge.

ICU Bed Availability is up today, from 18% to 23%, but still in the yellow danger zone.  Again, we are in the worrisome range we saw during the winter surge.

Ventilator Availability remained at 57% today, still in the range of last February’s winter surge.

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.  The County did not update its Hospitalizations charts today.  See below.  The differing race/ethnicity numbers indicate a number of persons whose race/ethnicity was not given or recorded.

FACE MASKS… Required for all in Benicia and Vallejo

Benicia City Council passed a citywide indoors mask mandate that went into effect on August 24 and includes everyone 4 years old and up when indoors in public places, even those of us who are vaccinated.  Benicia was joined by Vallejo on August 31.  In the Bay Area, Solano County REMAINS the only holdout against a mask mandate for public indoors spaces.

OLD NEWS BUT SIGNIFICANT – SOLANO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS failed to consider an agendized proposal for a countywide MASK MANDATE on Tuesday, September 14.  The Board’s agenda called for discussion of an indoors mask mandate for all and a vaccination mandate for county workers.  The Board voted 4-1 to require county-run facilities in Vallejo and Benicia to abide by local mandates.  But the Board voted down the vaccination mandate 3-2, and failed to even consider the agendized question of a county-wide mask mandate.  The Solano Board of Supervisors joined with Dr. Bela Matyas in officially showing poor leadership on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cases by City on Monday, October 4:
  • Benicia added 8 new cases today, a total of 1,447 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia has seen 34 new cases over the last 7 days, solidly back in the CDC’s definition of HIGH community transmission (defined as 28 or more cases, based on Benicia population).  [Note that Solano County is at a level of HIGH transmission, and Solano’s 6 other cities are likely also individually experiencing high or substantial transmission.]
  • Dixon added 14 new cases today, total of 2,487 cases.
  • Fairfield added 42 new cases today, total of 11,980 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 2 new case today, total of 571 cases.
  • Suisun City added 10 new cases today, total of 3,166 cases.
  • Vacaville added 47 new cases today, a total of 11,736 cases.
  • Vallejo added 46 new cases today, a total of 13,096 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 0 new cases today, a total of 139 cases (population figures not available).

Continue reading Solano County Monday update: 8 COVID dead, 169 new infections →

#wearamask, Benicia CA, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Delta variant, Face coverings, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine

Case numbers back up in Solano County, Benicia sees a surprising 17 new cases

By Roger Straw, Friday, October 1, 2021

Friday, October 1: Solano County reports 270 new infections, including a recent high of 17 new cases in Benicia

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

DEATHS: no new COVID-related deaths reported today.  Total Solano deaths over the course of the pandemic remains at 297.  The County reported 9 new deaths last week and 7 this week, a total of 27 in September:

CASES: The County reported  200 new COVID cases in the last 2 days, 100 per day.  Last week’s average was 152 per day, and on Wednesday the County reported 135 per day, so Monday’s standout report of only 16 per day over the weekend was surely incomplete or erroneous.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen 518 new cases, up from 460 on Wednesday and firmly back into the CDC’s population-based definition of a HIGH transmission rate after only 1 Solano dashboard report placing the County below that level.

(CDC FORMULA: Based on Solano County population of 449,432, the CDC would rate us in “SUBSTANTIAL” transmission with 225 cases over the last 7 days.  Double that, or 450 cases in the last 7 days would rank us in “HIGH” transmission.  Reference: CDC’s “Level of SARS-CoV-2 Community Transmission”.]

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 545 ACTIVE cases is up slightly over Wednesday’s 537, and far above our summer rates.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Our 7-day average percent positivity rate was 7.8% today, up from Wednesday’s 7.2%.  COMPARE: today’s California rate is 2.0% and today’s U.S. rate is 6.6%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking Center]

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations were down today from 54 to 46 persons, but still in the range we saw during the winter surge.

ICU Bed Availability is down today, from 22% to only 18%, in the yellow danger zone.  Again, we are in the worrisome range we saw during the winter surge.

Ventilator Availability went up slightly today from 53% to 57%, still in the range of last February’s winter surge.

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.  The County adjusted its Hospitalizations charts today, adding 29 previously unreported hospitalizations.  See below.  The differing race/ethnicity numbers indicate a number of persons whose race/ethnicity was not given or recorded.  All percentages remain unchanged except for a 1% drop in the percentage of persons age 50-64.

FACE MASKS… Required for all in Benicia and Vallejo

Benicia City Council passed a citywide indoors mask mandate that went into effect on August 24 and includes everyone 4 years old and up when indoors in public places, even those of us who are vaccinated.  Benicia was joined by Vallejo on August 31.  In the Bay Area, Solano County REMAINS the only holdout against a mask mandate for public indoors spaces.

I know this is getting to be old news, but it seems so important to me… SOLANO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS failed to consider an agendized proposal for a countywide MASK MANDATE on Tuesday, September 14.  The Board’s agenda called for discussion of an indoors mask mandate for all and a vaccination mandate for county workers.  The Board voted 4-1 to require county-run facilities in Vallejo and Benicia to abide by local mandates.  But the Board voted down the vaccination mandate 3-2, and failed to even consider the agendized question of a county-wide mask mandate.  The Solano Board of Supervisors joined with Dr. Bela Matyas in officially showing poor leadership on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cases by City on Friday, October 1:
  • Benicia added 17(!) new cases today, a total of 1,439 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia has seen 27 new cases over the last 7 days, very nearly back in the CDC’s definition of HIGH community transmission (defined as 28 or more cases, based on Benicia population).  17 new cases today represents a one-day return to August numbers.  Will this increase in cases continue?  If so, we may have an October COVID outbreak in Benicia.  [Note that Solano County is at a level of HIGH transmission, and Solano’s 6 other cities are likely also individually experiencing high or substantial transmission.]
  • Dixon added 8 new cases today, total of 2,473 cases.
  • Fairfield added 54 new cases today, total of 11,938 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 1 new case today, total of 569 cases.
  • Suisun City added 14 new cases today, total of 3,156 cases.
  • Vacaville added 42 new cases today, a total of 11,689 cases.
  • Vallejo added 62 new cases today, a total of 13,050 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 2 new cases today, a total of 139 cases (population figures not available).

Continue reading Case numbers back up in Solano County, Benicia sees a surprising 17 new cases →

Coronavirus, Covid 19, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine booster

Solano County plans for mass booster vaccination clinics in October

[BenIndy Editor: Note that local pharmacies are ALREADY offering boosters to those who received the Pfizer vaccine, six months after their second dose.  I got mine on Saturday!  Eligibility includes those ages 65+ and those ages 18 to 64 with underlying health conditions or at high risk for occupational or institutional exposure.  To schedule an appointment, see CVS or Rite Aid.  – R.S.]

Solano Public Health ready to move forward on mass booster vaccination program

Fairfield Daily Republic, by Todd R. Hansen. September 29, 2021

FAIRFIELD — Solano County Public Health expects to hold 32 mass Covid-19 booster vaccination clinics starting in mid-October.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a $1.7 million contract with Hammond Entertainment Productions LLC through Jan. 15 to provide logistical support at the clinics at the Solano County fairgrounds in Vallejo.

The board also approved a $1.95 million appropriations transfer to recognize unanticipated revenue from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to increase Covid-19 vaccination services.

The county is also expanding to five days its testing and vaccine clinic at the Solano Town Center mall in Fairfield.

About two-thirds of Solano County residents 12 or older have been fully vaccinated, and 77% of that population has received at least one shot, the county reported.

Dr. Bela Matyas, Solano County Health Officer

Dr. Bela Matyas, the county public health officer, gave the board a breakdown of how the booster programs are going to work.

The county is already giving “third vaccine doses” to those who are immunocompromised, noting the care not to use booster in the description because of regulatory requirements.

The actual booster program will target about 200,000 residents, starting with those 65 or older, and those 18 to 64 who are at high risk for illness. Matyas expects about 125,000 to take advantage of the program.

The next group will be long-term care facility employees, medical staff and first-responders.

With the help of Kaiser Permanente, Matyas said the county expects to get to all 150 long-term care facilities in the county by mid-October.

“That has already begun,” Matyas said.

The county will be offering the normal vaccine programs for those who are unvaccinated, and will include flu shots when possible. The limiting issue there is flu vaccine, but the county hopes to get help from its partners, such as hospitals and pharmacies.

The biggest concern for the success of the booster program is whether there are enough medical staff and related volunteers to conduct the clinics due to the shortage of medical personnel.

“The traveling nurse organizations are telling us no one wants to be a traveling nurse anymore,” Matyas said.

Moreover, the deadline for all personnel at medical facilities to be vaccinated is Thursday. If they do not get vaccinated, they cannot return to work.

Matyas said he does not think that is going to be a problem in Solano County, but other areas could be greatly affected, and that, in turn, will create more competition for other resources the county has hired for its mass clinics and its pop-up clinics, which are also planned.

Matyas also noted that Pfizer expects to seek emergency approval for a vaccine for children 5 to 11 years old, and the county is gearing up to go to schools when that is approved.