Solano health officer says spike due to gatherings
Coronavirus cases continue to rise in Solano, which Dr. Bela Matyas — the county’s public health officer — attributes primarily to family get-togethers where people are not practicing social distancing.
On Friday, the number of coronavirus cases since the outbreak began surpassed 2,000. As of Tuesday, 2,313 cases had been reported, marking a continuing spike in cases over the last month.
Fairfield has since surpassed Vallejo as the city with the most cases — 798 to 768 respectively — with Vacaville following at 371 overall cases, Suisun City at 173, Dixon at 127, Benicia at 45 and Rio Vista at 23.
The unincorporated areas of Solano County remain the only collective region to have fewer than 10 cases, a figure that is too small for the county to report.
Additionally, the county has 301 active cases and has had 31 deaths. The deaths have largely
been in the 65-and-older group with 84 percent of the data, while 10 percent of the deaths have been in the 50-64 demographic, and 6 percent in the 18-49 demographic.
Matyas advised that, based on case investigations, the spike was largely due to people getting together with friends and family and not social distancing.
“It’s family and social gatherings,” he said Tuesday. “They have been continuing unabated (and) probably have been for a couple months now.”
Matyas anticipates there will be another bump resulting from Independence Day activities.
Despite assertions that the widespread increase in coronavirus cases has been the result of more frequent testing, Matyas said this was not a major factor.
“Increased testing allows us to identify the cases more easily, but if you look at the amount of testing we’ve had available for the past couple of weeks, it hasn’t really changed,” he said. “We’ve been saturated for testing for the past couple of weeks, so the surge is definitely not due to just increased testing.”
Matyas said that there has also been a considerable increase in the percentage of positive cases as well as hospitalizations and deaths.
“All of those factors point to this being a real surge and not just better detection,” he said.
Matyas said there was not much the county could do to make people change their personal behaviors other than to continue to educate.
“We’ve been educating for the past six months on social distancing, and people are not doing that when they get together with family and friends,” he said. “We’ve interviewed people. They’re not wearing masks, they’re not standing apart, they’re sharing food and drinks like they did in the past.
“They’re fully aware of the recommendations, but in spite of that are performing activities that are behaving in a way that is ideal for transmission of the virus.”
Matyas said that to avoid contracting the disease, people should adopt social distancing measures at all times — even when at home. This includes coughing or sneezing into a tissue, washing hands frequently, using hand sanitizer and not leaving the house when sick.
“If we do those things, then we really reduce the risk of contracting the disease tremendously and we reduce the risk of transmitting it to others tremendously,” he explained.
Matyas said the county continues to monitor updates by Gov. Gavin Newsom in implementing its own shelter-at-home order.
On June 29, Newsom added Solano to a “watch list” for additional coronavirus restrictions. On Monday, he ordered the closure of a variety of business sectors in 30 California counties, including Solano. Such businesses included fitness centers, nail salons, barbershops, tattoo parlors, indoor malls, bars, breweries and indoor dining areas at restaurants, although they are permitted to allow outdoor dining.
Matyas said the most recent outbreak has not been a result of any of the listed sectors and has mostly been in the private sphere.
“We’ve had no clusters or outbreaks related to any of those sectors,” he said.
To combat the virus, Matyas strongly recommends people monitor their own behavior and follow the guidelines.
“The information on what to do is out there,” he said.”It’s been out there for a long time, it’s really up to people to adhere to the recommendations.”
For more information, go to solanocounty.com/depts/ph/coronavirus.asp.