Here are the latest COVID-19 numbers from Fresno County’s largest school districts

Coronavirus cases at Fresno County’s largest school districts continued to rise before students went on winter break.

The Bee’s Education Lab compiled data submitted upon request from 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.

So far, 11 more Fresno Unified School District students who have been on campuses have tested positive for the coronavirus since early December, according to spokesperson Amy Idsvoog, bringing the total to 18 cases. As of Jan. 1, at least 253 employees have tested positive.

Fresno Unified 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.

Students will not return to any type of in-person instruction 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.

Earlier this week, FUSD joined six other large California school districts in a joint letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, criticizing his recent plan to encourage schools to begin reopening some elementary schools by February.

Fresno Unified Superintendent Bob Nelson said school leaders were taken by surprise by the announcement on Dec. 30, according to a Facebook post. On Wednesday, he was critical of the plan, which did not make clear when teachers and other staff members would get vaccinated.

Fresno County has remained in the purple Tier 1 since Nov. 16, the most restrictive tier, and is still at 0% availability for Intensive Care Unit beds. It could be months until the county reaches the orange tier.

The California Department of Public Health added another 1,100 positive COVID-19 cases to Fresno County’s tally on Wednesday, bringing the total to 70,971 cases. Of those, at least 711 have died as of last week.

School districts that have started to bring students back to in-person learning part-time have had more positive cases.

Since early December, the number of Clovis Unified School District students who have tested positive for COVID-19 has nearly doubled. A total of 101 students have contracted the virus, spokesperson Kelly Avants told The Bee. Out of those students, 60 have been on campus for “instructional purposes,” and 41 were on campuses for “non-instructional purposes,” Avants said.

Since October, Clovis elementary students have been on campuses for a hybrid-model of learning that combines in-person instruction and online learning. The district expected secondary students to return to campuses Tuesday but had to delay that return until at least Jan. 19 following guidance from local health officials and the governor.

There have been 237 Clovis Unified employees who have tested positive for COVID-19 since July, data from the district showed, and 139 of those cases occurred in December.

In Fresno’s Central Unified School District, there have been 101 coronavirus cases among students since March and 97 among staffers, according to spokesperson Sonja Dosti. Similar to Fresno Unified, Central students have continued distance learning since the pandemic began.

Central Unified also won’t reopen for in-person classes until cases start to decline significantly. Campuses won’t reopen until Fresno County is in the red Tier 2. Unlike Fresno Unified and Clovis Unified, Central has not been approved for a waiver that allows elementary schools to reopen. The district has applied for a waiver but the approval process has been put on hold while cases continue to surge and ICU beds remain low.

Without an approved waiver California allows schools to reopen in counties that have remained in the red tier for at least two weeks.

Since March, the Sanger Unified School District’s spokesperson Cary Catalano said that 53 students and 46 employees have tested positive for the coronavirus.

In early December, there were 41 Sanger students and 34 staff members who tested positive for COVID-19. Amid backlash and division, the Sanger Unified School District has been open for part-time in-person learning since the first week of November.

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.

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 January 8, 2021 at 5:00 AM.