How many COVID-19 cases have been reported in Fresno County’s largest school districts?

Coronavirus cases continue to rise in Fresno County schools as the central San Joaquin Valley settles into a new lockdown imposed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to help slow the spread of COVID-19.

The Bee’s Education Lab compiled data submitted upon request by the four largest school districts in Fresno County. Some districts provided data from March through last week, others submitted case numbers from a much shorter time frame.

The Fresno Unified School District has had small groups of students on campuses since mid-October. Students are not being taught in-person. Instead, students who need internet access are engaged in distance learning from campus classrooms.

So far, seven of those students have tested positive for COVID-19, according to spokesperson Amy Idsvoog. Some FUSD staff members have been on campuses or at the downtown district offices since schools shut down in March. Since then, she said, 160 employees have tested positive.

Unlike the other large school districts in the county, Fresno Unified does not have a set date to reopen for in-person instruction but will wait until the county reaches the orange Tier 3 in the state’s color-coded “Blueprint for a Safer Economy” of coronavirus safety measures and restrictions. The orange tier represents “moderate” risk levels for spreading COVID-19. To get to the orange tier, positive coronavirus cases would need to dip between 1 and 3.9 daily cases per 100,000.

Clovis Unified

A total of 52 Clovis Unified students have tested positive for the coronavirus since July. District spokesperson Kelly Avants said 22 of those students had been on a Clovis campus for “instructional purposes” and 30 had been on a campus for “non-instructional purposes.”

A total of 130 Clovis Unified employees have tested positive since July, with the largest number of cases in November (67) and December, which already has seen 32 cases in just over a week, according to CUSD.

“In every case that we have had reported to us, our trained Contact Tracing team has completed proper notifications and reporting for the County,” Avants said in an email to The Bee. “We are working on the creation of a dashboard that will automatically populate positive cases reported to us and expect to have that available in early January.”

Central Unified

Since March, 44 students and 61 staff members at the Central Unified School District in Fresno have tested positive for coronavirus, spokesperson Sonja Dosti told The Bee in an email.

Central Unified recently returned to 100% distance learning to help protect students and staff. The district has submitted a waiver application to reopen but hadn’t received approval as of Monday. It remained unclear how Newsom’s recent order might affect the district’s plans to return some students to campuses on Jan. 11.

The district will update the public regarding reopening plans on Dec. 15.

Sanger Unified

Amid backlash and division, the Sanger Unified School District has been open for part-time in-person learning since the first week of November, spokesperson Cary Catalano said in an email, and at least 41 students and 34 staff members have tested positive for COVID-19.

At least one person on a Sanger Unified campus tested positive for COVID-19 the day teachers returned to campuses and one day before students arrived.

Selma Unified School District officials did not respond to questions from The Bee about positive cases on campuses.

Why can schools remain open amid Gavin Newsom’s lockdown?

Newsom announced a new stay-at-home order on Thursday for areas where intensive care unit capacity is projected to drop below 15%. The central San Joaquin Valley fell below that threshold on Saturday, and some indoor businesses must close for at least three weeks.

Elementary schools approved for reopening through health department waivers or schools that have opened before Newsom’s announcement will not have to close.

Many schools in Fresno, Tulare, Kings, and Madera counties have been approved for waivers, which allows them to keep students on campus if the county remained in the purple tier, the most restrictive tier under the state’s color-coded “Blueprint for a Safer Economy” measures.

Out of Fresno County’s largest school districts, Fresno Unified, Clovis Unified, Sanger Unified, and Selma Unified have all been approved for waivers.

The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Read more from The Bee’s Education Lab on our website.

This story was originally published December 8, 2020 at 8:00 AM.