Category Archives: Testing

Coronavirus, Covid 19, Solano County CA, Testing, Vallejo CA

COVID-19 UPDATE: 3 new cases in Solano County, all in Vallejo, 386 residents newly tested

Friday, May 1st: 3 new cases, no new deaths, total now 266 cases, 5 deaths

Solano County Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Updates and Resources.  Check out basic information in this screenshot.  IMPORTANT: The County’s interactive page has more.  On the County website, you can click on “Number of cases” and then hover over the charts for detailed information.

Previous report, Thursday, April 30

Summary

Solano County reported 3 NEW POSITIVE CASES today – total is now 266.  No new deaths, total remains at 5.

BY AGE GROUP

  • 1 new case of a young person under 19 years of age, total of 6 cases, just under 2% of the 266 confirmed cases.
  • 2 of today’s new cases were persons 19-64 years of age, total of 208 cases, 78%, of the total.   No new deaths, total of 2.  Note that only 29 of the 208 cases in this age group (14%) were hospitalized at one time.  (It is unclear whether the 2 deaths were ever hospitalized.)
  • No new cases were persons 65 or older, total of 52 cases, 20% of the total.  No new deaths, total of 3.  Note that 21 of the 52 cases in this age group (40%, nearly half) were hospitalized at one time.  (It is unclear whether the 3 deaths were ever hospitalized.)

HOSPITALIZATIONS: 51 of Solano’s 263 cases resulted in hospitalizations, same as previous two days.  Good news – no increase in hospitalizations!

ACTIVE CASES:  40 of the 266 are active cases, a significant drop from yesterday’s total of 55.  Maybe the spread is leveling off, but don’t forget – there are still 40 of us struggling with the virus in Solano County today, and presumably contagious.  The county does not report WHERE the active cases are.  Below you will see that only 12 are currently hospitalized, which leaves 28 of these 40 active cases out in our communities somewhere, and hopefully quarantined.

The County’s “Hospital Impact” graph shows 11 of the 51 hospitalized cases are CURRENTLY hospitalized – one fewer than yesterday.  And only 11 of the 40 active cases are currently hospitalized, leaving 29 of them out and about and hopefully quarantined at home.  The County’s count of ICU beds available and ventilator supply remains at “GOOD” at 31-100%. (No information is given on our supply of test kits, PPE and staff.)

CITY DATA

  • Vallejo added all 3 of today’s new cases, total of 125.
  • Fairfield remains at 60.
  • Vacaville remains at 35.
  • Suisun City remains at 16.
  • Benicia remains at 14.
  • Dixon, Rio Vista and “Unincorporated” are still not assigned numerical data: today all remain at <10 (less than 10).  Note that the numbers for other cities add up to 250, leaving 16 cases located somewhere among the locations in this “<10” category.  Residents and city officials have pressured County officials for city case counts.  Today’s data is welcome, but still incomplete.

TESTING

The County reports that 4,099 residents have been tested as of today.  This is an increase of 386 individuals since yesterday’s total of 3,713.  Much better than Thursday when we added only 37 and Wednesday only 106, but still not up to the earlier days when the County reported 505 and 438 new tests.  Testing needs to be on the increase!  We have a long way to go: less than 9 tenths of 1% of Solano County’s 447,643 residents (2019) have been tested.

Solano’s upward curve in cumulative cases – as of May 1

The chart above shows the infection’s trajectory in Solano County.  It’s too soon to tell, but we may be seeing a flattening of the curve!

Still incredibly important – everyone stay home and be safe!

Coronavirus, Covid 19, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Testing

Solano County COVID-19 drive-through testing relocates to Fairfield

Solano County announcement on Facebook, April 21, 2020
Image may contain: possible text that says 'DRIVE-THRU TESTING UPDATE New Site: 2101 Courage Dr, Fairfield Available for symptomatic Solano residents who are in any of these groups: 65 and above mmune-compromised Individuals with chronic disease Essential workers who live or work in Solano, including healthcare workers and first responders 707-784-8655 TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT solanocounty.com/covid 707-784-8988 GETHER SOLANO PUBLIC WE CAN HEALTH'
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SolanoCountyPH/ Website: http://www.solanocounty.com/depts/ph/coronavirus_links/faq___drive_through_testing.asp
Solano Public Health

The Solano County COVID-19 drive-through testing site will now be located at 2101 Courage Dr, Fairfield and will be available for symptomatic older adults who are 65 years & older, individuals who are immune-compromised, individuals with chronic diseases, and essential workers. Individuals must have symptoms consistent with COVID-19 (such as fever, cough, chills, and body aches). Individuals must also live or work in Solano County. Testing is not available for those who do not have COVID-19 symptoms at this time.

Examples of chronic diseases include, but are not limited to:
• Heart disease
• Stroke
• High blood pressure
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Chronic kidney disease
• Cancer
• Diabetes

Testing is by appointment only and a valid ID or verification of ID is needed. You can call (707) 784-8655 to make an appointment. The phone line is open from 9am to 4:30pm Monday through Friday, or until all appointment slots are filled. Solano County will test individuals who meet the criteria above regardless of insurance or immigration status. There is no cost for this testing. Testing consists of a self-administered nasal swab, and results can be expected in 1-3 days.

This testing site continues to remain open to healthcare workers, first responders, and essential employees.

Please call the Solano Public Health COVID-19 warm line at (707) 784-8988 or email COVID19@SolanoCounty.com with any questions.
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No photo description available.
Benicia CA, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Solano County CA, Testing

Solano County now offering COVID-19 testing for older adults and others who show symptoms of the virus

City of Benicia announcement, following the Solano County announcement, April 15, 2020

Solano County COVID-19 Testing

The Solano County drive-thru COVID-19 testing site at the Solano County Fairgrounds is offering testing for older adults (age 65+), individuals with chronic diseases, healthcare workers, first responders, and essential employees who are currently ill and whose symptoms are consistent with COVID-19 (including fever, cough, chills, and body aches). Individuals must also live and/or work in Solano County. Testing is not available for those who do not have COVID-19 symptoms at this time.

Appointments:

Monday -Thursday: 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. or 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Friday: 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Examples of chronic diseases include, but are not limited to:

• Heart disease
• Stroke
• High blood pressure
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Chronic kidney disease
• Cancer
• Diabetes

Essential employees include, but are not limited to, employees in the following settings:

• Grocery stores, food banks, restaurants, and food delivery
• Gas stations and auto-repair facilities
• Transportation providers
• Childcare facilities
• Water, sewer, solid waste, gas, and electrical operations
• Mailing and shipping services
• Banks
• Hardware stores, warehouses, and distribution centers
• Construction
• Laundry service
• Telecommunications, internet, and media services

Testing is by appointment only and a valid ID or verification of ID is needed. You can call (707) 784-8655 to make an appointment, please do not leave a message. The phone line is open from 9am to 4:30pm Monday through Friday, or until all appointment slots are filled. There is no cost for this testing. Testing consists of a self-administered nasal swab, and results can be expected in 1-3 days.

Please call the Solano Public Health COVID-19 warm line at (707) 784-8988 or email COVID19@SolanoCounty.com with any questions.

California, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Public Health, Testing

Testing chaos undermines California coronavirus response

San Francisco Chronicle Editorial Board, April 7, 2020
A health care worker speaks with a driver at a drive-thru coronavirus testing site in a parking lot of the old California Pacific Medical Center on California Street in San Francisco, Calif. on Thursday, April 2, 2020. The appointment only tests were provided for employees and staff of CPMC and Brown and Toland physicians.
A health care worker speaks with a driver at a drive-thru coronavirus testing site in a parking lot of the old California Pacific Medical Center on California Street in San Francisco, Calif. on Thursday, April 2, 2020. The appointment only tests were provided for employees and staff of CPMC and Brown and Toland physicians. Photo: Paul Chinn / The Chronicle

California has so far escaped an exponential coronavirus outbreak on the order of New York’s thanks to nation-leading social-distancing measures, particularly in the Bay Area. But the state has lagged in testing for the virus, undermining a relatively encouraging trajectory and threatening its ability to combat the contagion over the long term.

While federal failures have plagued coronavirus testing across the country, California’s capacity to identify the disease it’s fighting has been particularly poor. About 126,000 Californians had been tested for the novel coronavirus as of Saturday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said, or 0.3% of the population. That’s only about half the per capita rate nationwide in a country that has been a global underachiever in tracking the pandemic, ranking 42nd among the states according to one analysis. New York, with about half the population, has tested more than 300,000.

Extraordinary delays in processing those tests that have been conducted exacerbated California’s shortfall. At one point last week, results were still pending for more than 60% of tests. Some patients reported waiting well over a week to find out whether they tested positive, defeating any attempt to quickly identify and contain infections.

To Newsom’s credit, he took responsibility for the problem Saturday and vowed to increase testing “exponentially” by forming a testing task force and several diagnostic “hubs,” coordinating the distribution of supplies, and working with UC Davis and UC San Diego. The governor also reported significant progress on the testing backlog, which had fallen from nearly 60,000 awaiting results to around 13,000 as of last weekend.

Federal miscues early on put the entire country at a disadvantage in detecting the pandemic. Although the World Health Organization had distributed hundreds of thousands of working coronavirus tests by early February, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention insisted on developing its own test only to discover flaws that made it largely unusable. The government nevertheless took weeks to relax regulations that prevented labs around the country from employing alternatives, finally doing so in late February.

Those difficulties were compounded in California thanks to shortages of testing supplies, a lack of coordination among dozens of public and private labs, and a huge backlog at one of them. Testing capacity has also been reduced by closures of about a quarter of the state’s public health labs over the past two decades.

If California’s relative success in slowing the spread of of the contagion continues, one likely consequence is that more of the population will remain unexposed and therefore vulnerable until a vaccine is developed, a process expected to take more than a year. A coherent testing regime will be that much more crucial to detecting and controlling any resurgence of the pandemic and beginning to restore a semblance of normalcy.