Clovis schools have been open for months. How many coronavirus cases have they had?

As vaccinations increase and coronavirus cases slow in Fresno County, the trend is reflected at Clovis Unified, where many students have opted to return to in-person schooling part-time.

Dr. Rais Vohra, interim health officer for the Fresno County Department of Public Health, gave kudos to the district during a call with media on Thursday.

“Clovis Unified is doing a fantastic job with bringing kids back on campus safely,” he said. In speaking about the county as a whole, Vohra said there have been isolated cases and sports teams that have been put on pause to quarantine, but “we haven’t had any real crises moments where we have to shut down a whole classroom, for example, or shut down a whole school.”

So far in April for Clovis Unified, there have been 11 cases where a staff member or student tested positive and had been on a campus or district building. Three of those were staff members and eight were students. There were 54 cases overall in March.

Copper Hills, Sierra Vista, and Temperance-Kutner elementary schools each had two cases in April. Seven of the cases have been at elementary schools and four at middle or high schools, according to the district’s COVID-19 dashboard.

In March, Clovis East and Clovis North High Schools had 10 and seven cases, respectively — the highest in the district that month. In April, Clovis East has zero cases, and Clovis North has had one.

In February, there were 51 total cases, according to the dashboard. In late January, Superintendent Eimear O’Farrell said there had been 303 cases since the pandemic began.

District spokesperson Kelly Avants said there hadn’t been any evidence to conclude that the virus is being spread on campuses. Students are on a hybrid schooling schedule, where they attend school for a few days a week and learn online for the rest. The schedule differs at each school, Avants said.

About 21,010 students are on the CUSD hybrid program, and about 21,645 remain exclusively online, district officials have told The Bee’s Education Lab.

“The county has used contact tracing and evidence of numbers to say whether or not they believe spread is happening, and they never said that that was an indication at our schools,” she said. “What we’re seeing actually is our numbers significantly reducing dramatically over the last month.”

She said more teachers being vaccinated could be contributing to the decline of cases.

Avants said the district isn’t requiring teachers to tell them they’re vaccinated, but through the district’s own vaccination clinics, “the numbers are up into the 70% range,” she said. There are about 6,000 district employees.

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 April 16, 2021 at 8:17 AM.