Dear graduate and professional students,
We are excited about beginning the new school year with in-person classes and events. For those of you living in graduate housing managed by Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE), we’d like to offer tips on how to share residential space responsibly so we can keep everyone as healthy as possible. More information is provided below, and on our student COVID-19 website.
Sharing space responsibly
COVID-positive graduate and professional students, spouses, partners and dependents living on campus will continue to isolate in place, as noted in our August 8 message. This means you may be sharing an apartment with someone who is COVID positive.
Stock up now on non-perishables such as canned goods, pasta, rice, and frozen meals. Other options include meal and grocery delivery services. Effective September 7, the university will no longer provide meals to COVID-positive graduate and professional students and co-terms living in graduate housing, given they can prepare their own meals in their apartment kitchens.
Take a rapid COVID test immediately if your apartment mate tests positive, and then re-test again every three days until 5 days after everyone you live with tests negative. Review this guidance for more information.
If you or your apartment mate tests positive, here are additional measures we would like you to take:
- Stay inside your bedrooms with doors closed if possible.
- Avoid entering the bathroom within 15 minutes of others.
- Disinfect the bathroom and kitchen as often as possible.
- Wear face coverings as much as possible.
- Keep windows open as much as possible.
- Wash or sanitize your hands often.
- Avoid sharing personal items.
- Eat in separate rooms.
Temporary alternative housing may be available for students who have Residential & Dining Enterprises housing contracts and critical health conditions (e.g., students undergoing cancer chemotherapy). If you have a critical health condition and you have been instructed by your medical care team not to share a living space with a COVID-positive individual, contact the Graduate Life Office.
COVID reminders from previous messages
- Assemble your own first aid kit with over-the-counter medications such as fever reducers and decongestants. Be sure to include a thermometer.
- New arrivals should test on Day 0 (arrival day) and Day 5. Rapid and Color test kits will be provided at no cost at R&DE Student Housing check-in tables during move-in (Color is a lab test with results in 24-72 hours; here’s more information).
- Additional rapid test kits will continue to be available at no cost at the Arrillaga Family Dining Commons (AFDC). Color test kits are available for pickup here.
- Masking will be required in residential common spaces, classrooms, except while speaking; in healthcare facilities; and on Marguerite buses.
Monkeypox information
We have made arrangements to care for students who report testing positive for monkeypox, which spreads through close, personal, skin-to-skin contact. Students with symptoms or positive test results should contact Vaden Health Services for medical care and to learn more about other campus resources. Although Vaden does not have Monkeypox vaccine at this time, students can visit this Stanford Health Care site to learn more about registering for county vaccination clinics.
Resources for Our Communities
Whether you spent the summer on this beautiful campus, you are returning after time away, or you are a newcomer to our community, fall can be both exciting and challenging. Check out these Resources for Our Communities and the Residential & Dining Enterprises website to learn about the services, guidance and more available to all Stanford students. If you have any personal questions, please reach out to us here.
Sincerely,
Susie Brubaker-Cole
Vice Provost for Student Affairs
Mona Hicks
Senior Associate Vice Provost and Dean of Students
Shirley J. Everett
Senior Associate Vice Provost, Residential & Dining Enterprises
Senior Advisor to the Provost on Equity and Inclusion