Stanford bans freshmen and sophomores on campus

Freshmen and sophomores at Stanford University will not be allowed to enter the campus during the winter quarter, school officials announced a day after saying that 43 students on campus tested positive for COVID-19.

In a message to the Stanford community, President Marc Tessier-Lavigne and Provost Persis Drell announced changes for the quarter from Monday to March 19.

“We hoped to be able to allow half of all undergraduate students – that is, first and second year classes – to be personally on campus during the winter quarter,” Stanford spokesman EJ Miranda said in an email. on Sunday.

The campus-wide communique sent on Saturday attributed the change to the increase in state and local COVID-19 cases and the extension of home stay restrictions in Santa Clara County to help slow the recent rise in the new coronavirus.

Stanford had announced last month that he planned to have freshmen and sophomores in face-to-face classes this quarter, but that his arrival would be postponed until 21-24 January.

“COVID-19 cases in California have skyrocketed,” wrote Stanford leaders. “We are now at the worst point of the pandemic so far.”

Stanford’s letter cited statements by health officials that before Thanksgiving Day, Santa Clara County had four or five daily cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 inhabitants.

“Recently, there were approximately 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants – an increase of ten times,” said the letter.

On Friday, Stanford announced on his COVID-19 panel that 43 undergraduate, professional or undergraduate students had been isolated after the positive test for COVID-19 since January 2. The updated information is expected to be released on Monday.

Most cases are associated with students who recently arrived on campus or returned to Stanford, according to information from the website. Health officials have not identified a spread within the student community on campus, the statement added. He also said that the overall rate of positivity in student testing programs remained low.

Miranda, the school’s spokesman, said undergraduate and graduate students with special circumstances returned to Stanford last week.

In the letter to the community, Stanford leaders said: “The worsening circumstances at COVID-19 have eroded our expectations about the experience we could offer undergraduate students in the winter months.”

The spring quarter is scheduled to start on March 29. Stanford officials said they plan to have freshmen and sophomores on campus during the summer quarter starting June 21, if health conditions permit.

Stanford is not the only school to deal with COVID-19 restrictions when trying to serve students.

UC Berkeley is scheduled to begin the spring semester on January 19 with at least two weeks of totally remote instruction, according to its website. The school plans to have limited face-to-face classes beginning February 1, if health conditions permit.

The California State College and University system that operates 23 campuses, including San Jose State and Cal State East Bay in Hayward, previously announced that most classes for the 2020-21 academic year will be taught online.

However, some face-to-face classes continue to special classes, such as laboratories. San Jose State is scheduled to begin the semester on January 27, Cal State East Bay on January 19.

Last month, CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White announced plans to return to classes mostly in person in the fall of 2021.

The University of Santa Clara announced that it resumed classes only online on January 4 because Santa Clara County restrictions to slow the increase have ended plans for campus accommodation and face-to-face classes.