Juniors and seniors at Stanford University can return to campus for the spring quarter, the university announced Thursday.
In a letter on its website, President Marc Tessier-Lavigne and Provost Persis Drell write "We are prepared, for instance, to manage positive cases at the beginning of the quarter should any students who are unknowingly infected arrive on campus."
"Modeling of infections and hospitalizations by experts in our Stanford School of Medicine suggests that the trajectory of COVID-19 this spring is likely to be manageable," the letter says.
According to the Stanford News website, "More than 6,600 students currently live on campus, including approximately 5,100 graduate students and 1,500 undergraduates, who were approved to live on campus due to special circumstances."
There are some changes including no large gatherings and the commencement ceremony will be virtual.
Students are also invited to be in residence at the campus, according to the letter. There will be physical safeguards and testing including "Students on campus will continue to have mandatory twice-weekly COVID-19 testing, paid for by the university, along with two-test arrival testing for newly arriving undergraduates."
For more information: https://news.stanford.edu/today/2021/02/25/undergraduate-spring-quarter/
Stanford is among a handful of schools that have announced a back-to-school approach including USC which is planning a "full return" to campus in the fall semester.