Stanford reported 282 new student and 298 new faculty, staff and post-doctoral scholar COVID-19 cases for the week of Jan. 17, according to the COVID-19 dashboard.
Compared to last week, case counts increased by 37% among students and decreased by 39% among employees. As of Monday, according to the dashboard, 338 students are in isolation, compared to 325 on Jan. 10.
More COVID-19 tests were administered during the week as students continued to return to campus before the start of in-person classes on Monday. During the week of Jan. 17, 13,599 Color tests were administered, compared to 12,331 tests the week before. These testing numbers do not include rapid antigen tests, which are administered to all students upon their arrival to campus, according to the dashboard. Stanford continues to provide students with Color COVID-19 tests and requires weekly testing for those who are vaccinated. Unvaccinated students must test twice a week.
Stanford’s seven-day positivity rate rose from 1.66% last week to 2.07% this week for students, and fell from 2.60% to 1.61% for faculty, staff and postdocs. The seven-day positivity rate on campus remains lower than Santa Clara County’s 15% rate and California’s 20.4% rate.
Of the 298 new employee cases, 159 are included in the University’s testing count, and the remaining individuals tested outside the University’s surveillance testing system, such as through rapid antigen tests, or tested positive earlier than last week but just reported it to the University, according to the dashboard.
“We anticipated a rise in positive test results as students returned from winter break,” wrote University spokesperson E.J. Miranda in an email to The Daily. “As announced earlier this month, in-person instruction in graduate courses began last week and in-person instruction in undergraduate courses started today.”
Peer institutions in their second week of winter quarter are experiencing mixed changes in student positivity rates. Dartmouth University reported a 3.3% increase in positivity rate to 13.36%, and Northwestern University reported a 2.8% decrease to 2.01%. Stanford’s new 2.07% positivity rate marks a 0.41% increase.
A total of 1,708 students and 1,550 faculty, staff and postdocs have tested positive through Stanford’s surveillance testing system since Aug. 31, 2020, according to the dashboard.
The University continues to monitor the COVID-19 variants and enforce weekly COVID-19 testing and masking requirements, regardless of vaccination status. Stanford also continues to emphasize that vaccination, testing and masking can prevent serious illness, according to the dashboard.