Stanford reported 167 new COVID-19 cases among students and 189 new cases among faculty, staff and postdoctoral scholars for the week of May 9, according to the COVID-19 dashboard.
Case counts fell by 33% among students and rose by 35% among employees compared to the prior week. According to the dashboard, 208 students are in isolation as of Monday, which is a decline from the 328 students reported last week. Though total new cases fell by 8%, this is the second-highest case count since the start of spring quarter.
“We anticipated fluctuations in test results and isolation numbers as the quarter progressed and we have seen the numbers rise and fall as the University has resumed more traditional campus activities and operations,” wrote University spokesperson E.J. Miranda in a statement to the Daily.
Stanford will continue to closely monitor the public health situation on campus, according to Miranda. The University provides students with Color COVID-19 tests and requires biweekly tests for unvaccinated students. While vaccinated students are no longer required to test through Stanford’s surveillance system as of April 11, the University emphasized that vaccination, testing and masking can prevent serious illness, according to the dashboard.
The University’s seven-day positivity rate fell from 9.32% last week to 7.43% this week for students and rose from 1.57% to 2.06% for employees. The number of tests administered to students fell from 2,671 the prior week to 2,247 this week, according to the dashboard. The seven-day positivity rate for students is greater than Santa Clara County’s 5.8% rate and California’s 3.9% rate.
Peer institutions are experiencing increases in student positivity rates. Harvard reported an increase to a 3.06% positivity rate, and the University of California, Berkeley reported an increase to a 10.3% positivity rate. Stanford’s 7.43% positivity rate remains above that of Harvard but has fallen below that of UC Berkeley.
Of the 189 new employee cases, 77 are included in the University’s testing count. 112 individuals tested outside the University’s surveillance testing system through rapid antigen tests or tested positive earlier than last week but just reported it to the University, according to the dashboard.
A total of 3,748 students and 2,198 faculty, staff and postdocs have tested positive through Stanford’s surveillance testing system since June 29, 2020, according to the dashboard.