Important COVID-19 winter quarter details

Dear students,

We are writing today to follow up on this Dec. 16 Health Alert about the beginning of winter quarter. Our student COVID-19 website has been updated, including winter break and return testing guidance. Although the Omicron variant may lead to milder cases of COVID-19, it is highly transmissible. Therefore, we ask that you continue to take steps to slow the spread of the virus.

For example, a study suggests the risk of spreading the Omicron variant to people you live with is three times higher than it is with the Delta variant. At Stanford, wear a face covering indoors and where social distancing is not possible, especially inside campus housing whenever you leave your sleeping space, unless you are living in a studio apartment, couples apartment or family apartment.

As a reminder, classes at Stanford will be online for the first two weeks of the winter quarter. The quarter will still begin Jan. 3 for most students, as scheduled. We will resume in-person instruction Tuesday, Jan. 18, after the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday. Instructors will be expecting students to participate synchronously. Here’s how to prepare and what to expect.

Pre-arrival testing guidance

Get tested for COVID-19 before you return. This applies to all students, whether or not you have symptoms, but especially if you have symptoms. COVID-19, cold, flu and allergy symptoms can be indistinguishable. Don’t be fooled. Get tested. If you test positive, do not travel! Send a copy of your positive test result (a PCR test is preferred) to Dr. Robyn Tepper through the Vaden patient portal.

If you recently tested positive, isolate for 10 days in your current location. This week, the CDC shortened the recommended time for isolation from 10 days to five days for asymptomatic individuals. However, Santa Clara County (where Stanford is located) is still assessing this new guidance. Do not change your travel plans on the assumption that five days is sufficient.

Arrival testing and booster shot guidance

Get a booster shot as soon as you are eligible to do so, preferably before winter quarter begins. The deadline is Jan. 31. Upload documentation of your booster dose to the Vaden patient portal. You’ll find more information on boosters here.

If you did not leave campus housing during winter break:

• Take TWO Color tests during your first week of classes (Day 0 and 5).
• Then continue testing with Color, at your assigned cadence (once weekly if vaccinated, twice weekly if not vaccinated).

If you are away from campus, return on-time and get settled. We advise against waiting until in-person classes are about to begin. Once in-person instruction begins, any accommodations for those in isolation will need to be arranged with individual instructors at their discretion.

Upon returning to campus housing starting Jan. 1:

• Take a university-provided rapid test immediately.
• Take TWO Color tests during your first week on campus (Day 0 and 5).
• Then continue testing with Color, at your assigned cadence (once weekly if vaccinated, twice weekly if not vaccinated).

For undergraduates, rapid test kits have been dropped off at each room. You’ll find two kits in each box. Extra kits, should you need them, were left in dorm common areas. Supplies are limited; use one test per student in each housing unit. Don’t use your roommate’s test!  Here’s more information.

For graduate and professional students, rapid test kits will be available from R&DE housing service centers (EVGR-B for arrivals through January 2, all graduate housing service centers beginning January 3). You’ll find two kits in each box. Supplies are limited; use one test per student in each housing unit. Here’s more information.

Campus life updates

Dining halls will re-open Jan. 1. Indoor eating capacity will be limited, students will be able to assemble to-go meals, and everyone will be required to wear a face covering when not actively eating or drinking.

Travel for all voluntary student organizations, Greek organizations, residences and club sports teams will be limited to day trips within 150 miles of campus. No overnight trips or any other travel is permitted for these student groups and organizations through at least Feb. 1, when this guidance will be updated.

Registered gatherings and parties begin Jan. 21 outdoors, and Jan. 28 indoors and outdoors. Here’s more information.

University offices serving students will re-open in-person and/or online Jan. 3, the first day of winter quarter.

We remain grateful for everything you have been doing to reduce the transmission of COVID-19. As recorded on the university dashboard, our vaccination rates are high and positivity rates have been low. Let’s continue working together to keep campus as safe and healthy as possible.

Best wishes for the new year,

Mona Hicks
Senior Associate Vice Provost and Dean of Students

Dr. Jim Jacobs
Associate Vice Provost and Executive Director, Vaden Health Services