Category Archives: Vaccine

Benicia CA, Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Coronavirus, Covid 19, Delta variant, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine

COVID case numbers back up in Solano County, 380 new infections, largely among the younger age groups

By Roger Straw, Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Wednesday, September 15: Solano reports 380 new infections since Monday, over 75% under 50 years of age

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

DEATHS: No new deaths today.  Total Solano deaths over the course of the pandemic now at 280.

CASES: The County reported  380 new COVID cases over the last two days, quickly back up to 190 per day after Monday’s drop to 50 per day, and well back in the range of last winter’s surge.

CASES BY AGE GROUP:  Solano cases are trending upward among younger residents. The percentage of Solano’s cases among our youth 0-17 years of age has increased very slowly over the course of the pandemic, starting below 6%, and only gradually reaching 12% in mid-April of 2021.  With today’s new cases alone, the two younger age groups each increased a tenth of a percentage point of total cases.  Those age 0-17 now represent 14% of total cases, and those age 18-49 represent 55.4% of total cases.  Also note that those age 0-17 accounted for 19% of today’s new cases, nearly equal to their percentage of Solano’s population – this among youth who were much less likely to be infected.  Note that Solano youth 0-17 continue to show very few hospitalizations (63 admissions, or 2% of total) and no deaths.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen 750 new cases, NEARLY TWICE the CDC’s population-based definition of a HIGH rate of transmission!  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.  And we are at 750 cases as of today!  [Reference: CDC’s level for “High Community Transmission”.]

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 773 ACTIVE cases is up significantly from Monday’s 588, and up alarmingly up from 212 on July 2.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Our 7-day average percent positivity rate was 10.7% today, down from 9.1% on Monday.  COMPARE: today’s California rate is 3.3%.  Today’s U.S. rate shot up from 9.7% to 15.0%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins]  WARNING: The Delta Variant is here in Solano County and spreading fast.  Time to mask up again – watch out and take care!

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations were down slightly today from 93 to 92 persons, but still in the range we saw during the winter surge.

ICU Bed Availability went up today from 17% to 23%, but still in the yellow danger zone.  Again, we are still in the range we saw during the winter surge.

Ventilator Availability fell today from 59% to only 49%, 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.  Interestingly, the TOTAL race/ethnicity numbers don’t square with the age group numbers.

FACE MASKS… Good News in Benicia and Vallejo

GOOD NEWS! 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 even RECOMMENDING masks in public indoors spaces.

SOLANO COUNTY dropped the ball on consideration of a MASK MANDATE.  The Solano County Board of Supervisors failed to even consider the proposed MASK MANDATE on Tuesday, September 14.  The agenda called for discussion of an indoors mask mandate for all and a vaccination mandate for county workers.  Although it was not on the agenda, the Board voted 4-1 to require county-run facilities in Vallejo and Benicia to abide by local mandates.  The Board voted down the vaccination mandate 3-2, and failed to even consider the county-wide mask mandate.  The Solano Board of Supervisors now joins with Dr. Bela Matyas in officially showing poor leadership on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cases by City on Wednesday, September 15:
  • Benicia added 9 new cases today, a total of 1,378 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia has seen 24 new cases over the last 7 days, remaining just below the CDC’s definition of HIGH community transmission (based on Benicia population).  Benicia is still at the high end of the CDC’s range of SUBSTANTIAL transmission.  [Note that Solano County is also rated far above high transmission, and Solano’s 6 other cities are likely also individually experiencing high or substantial transmission.]
  • Dixon added 17 new cases today, total of 2,403 cases.
  • Fairfield added 65 new cases today, total of 11,624 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 5 new cases today, total of 547 cases.
  • Suisun City added 34 new cases today, total of 3,045 cases.
  • Vacaville added 136 new cases today, a total of 11,399 cases.
  • Vallejo added 114 new cases today, a total of 12,664 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 0 new cases today, a total of 134 cases (population figures not available).

Continue reading COVID case numbers back up in Solano County, 380 new infections, largely among the younger age groups →

#Masks4All, #wearamask, Benicia CA, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Solano County Board of Supervisors, Solano County Health Officer Bela Matyas, Vaccine, Vallejo CA

Solano Board of Supervisors backs Bela on masks and vaccinations, but gives nod to Benicia and Vallejo mandates

[BenIndy Editor: Note that the Board never even addressed Supervisor Brown’s request for a countywide indoors mask mandate like we established here in Benicia and Vallejo.  Benicia and Vallejo are clearly on our own here in Solano County.  Concerned up-county residents should consider shopping and doing business down here in Benicia/Vallejo.  And Solano employees might want to start looking for a new job!  – R.S.]

Divided board won’t mandate vaccines for Solano employees

Solano County Supervisor Erin Hannigan speaks while debating mandated vaccines and masks for Solano County employees during a Board of Supervisors meeting at the Government Center in Fairfield, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021. (Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic)
County workers must adhere to mask policies in communities where they work

Fairfield Daily Republic, By Todd R. Hansen, September 15, 2021

FAIRFIELD — Solano County employees will not be required to get Covid-19 vaccinations, but will have to honor mask requirements in city jurisdictions that have them.

Benicia and Vallejo temporarily require everyone – vaccinated or not – to wear a mask in indoor public places. The state has the same mandate for individuals who are not vaccinated.

Masks are required in all medical facilities, and in schools.

Benicia Mayor Steve Young

Benicia Mayor Steve Young was one of 17 individuals who called into the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday. The county also received more than 100 written correspondences, two-thirds of which opposed the policies. The callers were slightly weighted in the other direction.

Young urged the board to enact its own mask mandate, though that issue was never formally up for consideration.

A county mask mandate for public indoor places was expected to be one of two issues considered by the board, but Supervisor Erin Hannigan, who had raised the mask requirement and the county vaccination mandate, backed off the full mask mandate in favor of requiring that county employees adhere to the rules of other jurisdictions.

The new mandate mostly affects county employees who work at county buildings in Vallejo. The board supported the policy on a 4-1 vote with board Chairman John Vasquez dissenting without comment.

The supervisors voted 2-3, with Vasquez, Supervisor Jim Spering and Supervisor Mitch Mashburn in the majority, to defeat Hannigan’s motion to mandate vaccinations for county employees and contractors. Supervisor Monica Brown supported the action.

“The only way we are going to get out of this pandemic is everyone get vaccinated,” Hannigan said.

Those who argued against the vaccines for county employees, also largely argued against the mask requirement, framing the issues as ones of personal freedoms and choice.

Some took great exception to anyone telling them what they must inject into their bodies. Others were less forceful, and even noted they, too, had been vaccinated, but were in no position to tell others what to do, and strongly believe government should stay out of personal medical decisions.

Corianne Tunstall comments as the Solano County Board of Supervisors debate mandated vaccines and masks for Solano County employees during a Board of Supervisors meeting at the Government Center in Fairfield, Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2021. (Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic)

But Corianne Tunstall, a local hairdresser, said those “personal decisions” do not only affect those individuals, as she is frequently exposed to clients who have not been vaccinated, and who refuse to wear masks even though state law requires them to do so.

She told the board she could not afford to get sick and miss work, and felt it was wrong that others could choose to expose her and she could, in turn, expose her family.

Dr. Seth Kaufman is the chief medical officer for NorthBay Healthcare. (Courtesy photo)

Others who supported the policies included Dr. Seth Kaufman, chief medical officer at NorthBay Healthcare. He called the vaccines and masks critical pieces in the fight against Covid-19.

“We are off the charts on the number of patients we are seeing,” Kaufman said. “Our hospitals are full; our clinics are overflowing with Covid patients.”

The public discussion followed a Covid-19 status update by Dr. Bela Matyas, the county public health officer.

Dr. Bela Matyas, Solano County public health officer

He told the board that the county is emerging from the latest Covid surge that started shortly after July 4, and that includes lower number of individuals being hospitalized.

Matyas reiterated his position that a mask policy will be ineffective because the data show transmission is not taking place in public settings, but rather at private social gatherings and at home. He noted that the vast majority of counties that have mask mandates are not seeing their disease rates fall like they should if the policy worked.

However, he also reiterated his position that the best way to defeat Covid-19 is to get vaccinated.

About 64% of the residents 12 or older have been fully vaccinated, while 76% have received at least one shot. That leaves about 135,000 residents who are eligible for vaccines who have not been innoculated, Matyas said.

Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released data Friday that indicate people who are unvaccinated who contract Covid-19 are 11 times more likely to die than are those who are vaccinated.

[continued…]

Benicia CA, Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Coronavirus, Covid 19, Delta variant, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine

Some COVID measures looking better in Solano County, but community transmission still HIGH

By Roger Straw, Monday, September 13, 2021

Monday, September 13: Solano reports 149 new infections over the weekend and 2 new hospitalizations

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

DEATHS: No new deaths today.  Total Solano deaths over the course of the pandemic now at 280.

CASES: The County reported  149 new COVID cases over the weekend.  It’s encouraging that we are down to 50 per day, lower than any time since July 19.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen 776 new cases, NEARLY TWICE the CDC’s population-based definition of a HIGH rate of transmission!  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.  And we are at 776 cases as of today!  [Reference: CDC’s level for “High Community Transmission”.]

YOUTH CASES: The percentage of Solano’s cases among our youth has increased very slowly over the course of the pandemic, starting below 6%, and only gradually reaching 12% in mid-April of 2021.  The percentage of youth cases has jumped a full 0.9% since mid-August.

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 588 ACTIVE cases is down from last Friday’s 838, but up alarmingly up from 212 on July 2.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Our 7-day average percent positivity rate was 9.1% today, down from 9.7% on Wednesday.  COMPARE: today’s California rate is 2.9% and today’s U.S. rate is 9.7%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins]  WARNING: The Delta Variant is here in Solano County and spreading fast.  Time to mask up again – watch out and take care!

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations were down today from 106 to 93 persons, but still in the range we saw during the winter surge.

ICU Bed Availability remained at 17% today, in the yellow danger zone.  Again, we are still in the range we saw during the winter surge.

Ventilator Availability remained at 59%, and 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 SUBSTANTIALLY updated its Hospitalizations charts Friday, adding over 500 previously unreported hospitalizations (by age, or nearly 450 by race/ethnicity).  The County added 2 more new hospitalizations today, both over 65, one Black person and one White person.  See below.  Interestingly, the TOTAL race/ethnicity numbers don’t square with the age group numbers.

FACE MASKS… Good News in Benicia and Vallejo

GOOD NEWS!  Benicia City Council passed a citywide indoors mask mandate. The mandate went into effect immediately and includes everyone 4 years old and up when indoors in public places, even those of us who are vaccinated.  The mask resolution, press release, and a flyer now appear on the City website.

Benicia was the first Solano city to take action despite the County’s lack of strong guidance on masks.  Benicia was joined by Vallejo on August 31.  In the Bay Area, Solano County REMAINS the only holdout against even RECOMMENDING masks in public indoors spaces. 

COUNTY-WIDE MASK MANDATE?  The Solano County Board of Supervisors has agendized a consideration of a MASK MANDATE TOMORROW, on Tuesday, September 14.  The description of the agenda item uses mandate language as follows: “Consider and provide direction regarding a Board Member request for the establishment of mandatory indoor face mask order for Solano County.”  BUT… County staff has offered a DRAFT resolution that merely “encourages” and “recommends” and doesn’t even use the words “mask” or “face covering” in the body of the resolution.  Your comments might be important before or during the Board’s Tuesday September 14 meeting.  For instructions on how to participate, see the Sept 14 Agenda.

Cases by City on Monday, September 13:
  • Benicia added 7 new cases today, a total of 1,369 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia has seen 24 new cases over the last 7 days, dropping Benicia or the first time since August 9 below the CDC’s definition of HIGH community transmission (based on Benicia population).  Benicia is still at the high end of the CDC’s range of SUBSTANTIAL transmission.  [Note that Solano County is also rated far above 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 2,386 cases.
  • Fairfield added 30 new cases today, total of 11,559 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 3 new cases today, total of 542 cases.
  • Suisun City added 7 new cases today, total of 3,011 cases.
  • Vacaville added 52 new cases today, a total of 11,263 cases.
  • Vallejo added 42 new cases today, a total of 12,550 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 0 new cases today, a total of 134 cases (population figures not available).

Continue reading Some COVID measures looking better in Solano County, but community transmission still HIGH →

Benicia CA, Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Coronavirus, Covid 19, Delta variant, Hospitalizations, Solano County CA, Solano County Health Department, Vaccine

Solano County Health Department discloses over 500 previously unreported COVID hospitalizations

By Roger Straw, Friday, September 10, 2021 (With apologies for a mathematical error in hospitalizations, updated here on September 12)

Friday, September 10: Solano reports 4 dead and a massive increase in hospitalizations

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

DEATHS: Four new deaths today, 2 age 50-64 and 2 age 65+.  Total Solano deaths over the course of the pandemic now at 280.

CASES: The County reported  221 new COVID cases in the last two days, 111 per day.

COMMUNITY TRANSMISSION RATE: Over the last 7 days, Solano has seen 1,144 new cases, OVER 2½ TIMES the CDC’s population-based definition of a HIGH rate of transmission!  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.  And we are at an astonishing 2,616 cases as of today!  [Reference: CDC’s level for “High Community Transmission”.]

YOUTH CASES: The percentage of Solano’s cases among our youth has increased very slowly over the course of the pandemic, starting below 6%, and only gradually reaching 12% in mid-April of 2021.  The percentage of youth cases has jumped a full 0.9% since mid-August.

ACTIVE CASES: Solano’s 838 ACTIVE cases is up from last Wednesday’s 813, and up alarmingly up from 212 on July 2, and in the range we experienced during the deadly surge last winter.

POSITIVE TEST RATE:  Our 7-day average percent positivity rate was 9.7% today, down from 11.7% on Wednesday.  COMPARE: today’s California rate is 2.9% and today’s U.S. rate is 10.0%.  [Source: Johns Hopkins]  WARNING: The Delta Variant is here in Solano County and spreading fast.  Time to mask up again – watch out and take care!

HOSPITALIZATIONS:

CURRENT hospitalizations were down today from 112 to 106 persons, but still in the range we saw during the winter surge.

ICU Bed Availability rose from Wednesday’s alarmingly low of 9% of ICU beds available to 17% today, back into the yellow danger zone.  Again, we are still in the range we saw during the winter surge.

Ventilator Availability was up today from 51% to 59%, but 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 SUBSTANTIALLY updated its Hospitalizations charts today, adding over 500 previously unreported hospitalizations (by age, or nearly 450 by race/ethnicity).  See below.  (NOTE CORRECTION – THE NUMBER OF NEW HOSPITALIZATIONS WAS NOT OVER 1,000 AS PREVIOUSLY REPORTED HERE.)  Interestingly, the race/ethnicity numbers don’t square with the age group numbers.

FACE MASKS… Good News in Benicia and Vallejo

GOOD NEWS!  Benicia City Council passed a citywide indoors mask mandate. The mandate went into effect immediately and includes everyone 4 years old and up when indoors in public places, even those of us who are vaccinated.  The mask resolution, press release, and a flyer now appear on the City website.

Benicia was the first Solano city to take action despite the County’s lack of strong guidance on masks.  Benicia was joined by Vallejo on August 31.  In the Bay Area, Solano County REMAINS the only holdout against even RECOMMENDING masks in public indoors spaces. 

COUNTY-WIDE MASK MANDATE?  The Solano County Board of Supervisors has agendized a consideration of a MASK MANDATE on Tuesday, September 14.  Good news??  Maybe not!  The description of the agenda item uses mandate language as follows: “Consider and provide direction regarding a Board Member request for the establishment of mandatory indoor face mask order for Solano County.”  BUT… County staff has offered a DRAFT resolution that merely “encourages” and “recommends” and doesn’t even use the words “mask” or “face covering” in the body of the resolution.  Your comments might be important before or during the Board’s Tuesday September 14 meeting.  For instructions on how to participate, see the Sept 14 Agenda.

Cases by City on Friday, September 10:
  • Benicia added 8 new cases today, a total of 1,362 cases since the outbreak began.  Benicia has seen 43 new cases over the last 7 days, over 1½ times the CDC’s definition of HIGH community transmission level based on Benicia population.  [Note that Solano County is also rated far above high transmission, and Solano’s 6 other cities are likely also individually experiencing high transmission.]
  • Dixon added 16 new cases today, total of 2,378 cases.
  • Fairfield added 41 new cases today, total of 11,529 cases.
  • Rio Vista added 6 new cases today, total of 539 cases.
  • Suisun City added 15 new cases today, total of 3,004 cases.
  • Vacaville added 73 new cases today, a total of 11,211 cases.
  • Vallejo added 62 new cases today, a total of 12,508 cases.
  • Unincorporated added 0 new cases today, a total of 134 cases (population figures not available).

Continue reading Solano County Health Department discloses over 500 previously unreported COVID hospitalizations →