Category Archives: Solano County Health Officer Bela Matyas

Benicia CA, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Elizabeth Patterson, Mandatory face coverings, Solano County Board of Supervisors, Solano County Health Officer Bela Matyas

Former Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson asks hard questions about Solano County health policies

Elizabeth Patterson: The real masking question

Vallejo Times-Herald Letters, September 2, 2021
Elizabeth Patterson, former Mayor of Benicia

The most important question asked the evening that Dr. Matyas, Solano County Public Health Officer, testified at the Benicia City Council was: “Where does the COVID virus come from that is spreading in all the homes and family gatherings, and parties?” The reason this question is critical is because Dr. Matyas claimed he was a scientist and not a politician, and that the “evidence” was clear COVID was surging in Solano County because of family gatherings and parties. And therefore, “masking up where the public gathered” such as in-door restaurants was not necessary.

This question — “Where does the virus come from that is spread at family gatherings? — is key to understanding that outside of spontaneous virus eruptions at family gatherings, the virus is caught someplace. The suggestion that it is just circulating among family and friends independent of exposure in stores or gyms is not scientific and lacks credibility.

Why then do we as a county not have masking requirements? At that same Benicia meeting and a subsequent press interview, Dr. Matyas explained that Benicia and Vallejo are more “Bay Area-like” and up county is more “Central Valley-like.” He went on to say this meant progressive against conservative ideological bases. And that is a reason he does not recommend the Solano County Board of Supervisors require masking.

Is this “let them get infected” rather than adopt the best strategy proven which is vaccinations, masking and avoiding long-term contact indoors? Does this mean that “fake COVID” cry scares officials? I’ve seen the meetings where the supervisors have endured anger and vitriol. In my experience, the way to deal with bullies is to do the right thing. The right thing is to reduce the spread of COVID by adopting proven strategies.

I like Dr. Matyas and understand his stated struggle communicating. That is his problem. Our problem is that we don’t have the best public health policies. That is the supervisors’ duty.

— Elizabeth Patterson/Former Benicia Mayor

See also:
Coronavirus, Covid 19, Mandatory face coverings, misinformation, Solano County Board of Supervisors, Solano County Health Department, Solano County Health Officer Bela Matyas

Dixon author Kelly James: Enough with COVID misinformation

The county public health department — specifically Bela Matyas — has been feeding the community misinformation…When will the county administration stop being complicit?

Fairfield Reporter Letters, by Kelly James, September 1, 2021
Dr. Bela Matyas, Deputy Director of Health and Social Services, Solano County Health Officer

When is enough, enough?

Over 2,000 new COVID-19 infections in the last couple weeks — primarily due to people going to parties, playing beer pong, and sharing cigarettes? So the infection and subsequent COVID death of the individual in the care facility was the result of their participation in summer parties and frat games? How about all the recent infections among the under 18 age group?

From the onset of the pandemic, the county public health department — specifically Bela Matyas — has been feeding the community misinformation. It began with his assurance to parents that kids were basically immune, continued with his social media video stating that masks weren’t necessary and the virus wouldn’t spread in confined spaces as long as you had a partition to protect you, and now, once again, he is making comments that are misleading and contradicting himself constantly in his public statements.

Until very recently he was still informing the public that COVID was primarily transmitted through droplets expelled by an infected person who coughed or sneezed or by someone touching a surface on which these droplets had settled and then touching their face and so forth. This despite the fact that in recent months the CDC and every other major medical association in the United States and the world had changed their assessment of the modes of transmission (based on lengthy, verifiable medical studies and research) to infections primarily occurring through microparticles which stay suspended in the air when people breath, talk, etc., as well as large droplets expelled when coughing and so forth. These studies are what fueled the initial spring and summer mask advisories made by the CDC. These are the “new information” which Dr. Matyas refuses to acknowledge as it validates the obvious need for indoor masking and contradicts his advisements to the public.

All of this absurdity is laughable from a distance, but for many of us living in Solano County, it’s a nightmare. When is the Solano County Board of Supervisors going to step in and do something? Do they or does anyone for that matter truly believe that every other medical professional, public health department, and health agency in the state is wrong and ours is right?

Solano County has been consistently the last in the state to be proactive and as a result, people have and are dying. We will get shut down again if basic precautions continue to go unheeded or enforced. When will the county administration stop being complicit?

— Kelly James/Dixon

See also:
Coronavirus, Covid 19, Delta variant, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Officer Bela Matyas, Vaccine

Solano Health Officer inaction proving wrong – cases climbing, hospital beds nearing capacity

Solano County reaches grim COVID-19 milestone, still no regional mask mandate

(Graphic by Solano NewsNet)

SolanoNews.net, by Matthew Keys, August 30, 2021

Solano County’s top health officer is still resisting calls for a region-wide indoor mask mandate and other proactive steps toward combatting the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, even as new data shows the rate of infection, hospitalization and deaths attributed to the virus continues to climb.

New information released this week showed more than 40,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Solano County, with an additional 677 cases confirmed between last Friday evening and Monday afternoon.

The actual rate of positive cases is likely higher, since data is reported on a delay due to the methods used by officials in Solano County and elsewhere to confirm new cases.

For weeks, Solano County Public Health Officer Dr. Bela Matyas has resisted calls for a mandate that would force customers and others in indoor public spaces to wear face masks. That lack of action prompted city officials in Benicia to implement an indoor mask mandate of their own; officials in Vallejo is debating a similar requirement this week.  [Vallejo order approved – see update.]

Local hospitals are feeling the crunch of this inaction: Federal data cited by KCRA-TV (Channel 3) revealed NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield is quickly running out of available hospital bed space, including in its intensive care unit. Similar situations are playing out at hospitals operated by Kaiser Permanente, the television station reported.

In local media interviews, Dr. Matyas claims an indoor mask mandate would do little to curb the spread of the coronavirus, including the more-contagious “Delta variant.” Without citing specific evidence, Dr. Matyas claims the majority of people who become infected with COVID-19 are exposed at private gatherings, not in public, and those calling for an indoor mask mandate are doing so for political reasons.

But in other Bay Area counties, the week-over-week rate of infection slowed and, in some cases, even dropped once indoor mask mandates were rolled out, according to data published by the New York Times and reviewed by Solano NewsNet. San Francisco and Marin counties have seen a sharp decline in new infections since implementing an indoor mask mandate in early August. Solano County, on the other hand, has the highest seven-day average of new cases, with well over 100 new cases reported each day, the data shows.

This week, Solano County officials reported four new deaths attributed to COVID-19 infections. Those four cases included two individuals who had received a COVID-19 vaccine, which does not prevent infection.

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#Masks4All, #wearamask, Benicia City Council, Benicia Mayor Steve Young, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Delta variant, Solano County Health Officer Bela Matyas

ABC7 TV News: Benicia Council passes mask mandate

Benicia passes indoor mask mandate despite Solano Co. health officer’s recommendation

ABC7 News, August 25, 2021

BENICIA, Calif. (KGO) — Anyone aged four and up are now required to wear a mask indoors at public buildings in Benicia. That includes grocery stores, commercial office buildings and restaurants.

City council members approved the mandate yesterday.

Benicia is taking a harder stance than the rest of Solano County — the only Bay Area county without a mask mandate.

Earlier this month, ABC7 News spoke with the Solano County Health Officer who explained why they initially chose not to implement indoor masking.

“The data does not support the need for such a mandate. This disease in our county is very clearly spreading during/through social events, people who are going to parties, barbecues, picnics, campouts,” said Dr. Bela Matyas.

The mandate goes into effect immediately and will be reviewed in six weeks.

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