Stanford reported 160 new COVID-19 cases among students and 129 new cases among faculty, staff and postdoctoral scholars for the week of April 25, according to the COVID-19 dashboard.
Case counts decreased by 72% among students and increased by 42% among employees compared to the prior week. According to the dashboard, 239 students are in isolation as of Monday, which is less than the 326 students reported last week.
This marks the first week of decreasing student cases since the University lifted its weekly Color COVID-19 testing requirement for vaccinated students on April 11.
The Daily has reached out to Stanford spokesperson E.J. Miranda for comment on how the recent trends compare to University expectations.
The University’s seven-day positivity rate fell from 7.27% last week to 6.09% this week for students and rose from 1.05% to 1.35% for employees. The number of tests administered to students dropped from 3,039 the prior week to 2,628 this week, according to the dashboard. The seven-day positivity rate for students is greater than Santa Clara County’s 5.1% rate and California’s 3.1% rate.
Many peer institutions are experiencing mixed changes in student positivity rates. Harvard reported a slight increase to a 1.84% positivity rate, and the University of California, Berkeley, reported a decrease to a 5.3% positivity rate. Stanford’s 6.09% positivity rate remains above that of Harvard and UC Berkeley.
Of the 129 new employee cases, 48 are included in the University’s testing count. The remaining 81 individuals tested outside the University’s surveillance testing system through rapid antigen tests or tested positive before this week but just reported it to the University, according to the dashboard.
Stanford continues to provide students with Color COVID-19 tests and require biweekly tests for unvaccinated students. While vaccinated students are no longer required to test through Stanford’s surveillance system, the University continues to emphasize that vaccination, testing and masking can prevent serious illness.
A total of 3,332 students and 2,063 faculty, staff and postdocs have tested positive through Stanford’s surveillance testing system since June 29, 2020, according to the dashboard.