26 New Student COVID-19 Cases Reported After First Week Of In-Person Classes

Palo Alto CA

28 September, 2021

6:18 PM

Description

By Athena Xue, The Stanford Daily September 27, 2021 The University reported 26 new student COVID-19 cases on campus during the week of Sept. 20, according to its COVID-19 dashboard. The count marks a slight increase from last week's 22 student cases, which followed the student move-in period and required entry testing. This past week, the University had a 7-day positivity rate of 0.14%, lower than the 1.2% positivity rate in Santa Clara County and 1.6% in California. Still, the news likely comes as a relief to those who worried that a week of in-person classes and mingling could lead to an increase in breakthrough cases. Stanford continues to recommend outdoor mask-wearing and mandate indoor masking, adhering to Santa Clara County regulations. To limit potential viral transmission, the University has also prohibited indoor parties and student organization gatherings until Oct. 8. Since the University reinstated testing regulations on Aug. 15, all students arriving on campus have been required to undergo entry testing and continue to test for COVID-19 weekly throughout the quarter, regardless of vaccination status. Since surveillance testing began in August last year, over 378,000 student COVID-19 tests and 209,000 faculty, staff and post-doctoral scholar tests have been completed, with 337 and 256 positive results, respectively. Some of the cases are breakthrough cases involving vaccinated individuals who have observed mild symptoms, according to the dashboard. "We continue to reinforce that vaccines, especially when combined with wearing a face-covering, provide strong protection against serious illness," the University wrote in the dashboard update. The Stanford Daily is the independent, student-run newspaper of Stanford University. Read more of their stories at StanfordDaily.com.