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Current policies and status
Stanford is in a phased recovery of operations due to COVID-19. Below is an overview of our current policies and protocols. These will be adjusted as the public health situation changes.

Classes will be mostly remote for the winter quarter, with limited classes offered in-person. Teaching Commons and Teach Anywhere offer resources for instructors.

On-campus housing for the winter quarter is being offered to graduate students, new transfer students and approved undergraduates with special circumstances. Dining halls provide takeout meals, with CleanDining protocols. A compact outlines protocols for those living in R&DE-assigned housing or coming to campus. Read an update about the winter quarter plan for undergraduates and additional information about winter quarter return for undergraduates and graduate and professional students.

Research and some other essential in-person campus activities are operating on-site. Guidance for researchers is available. Otherwise, faculty, staff, postdocs and students who can work remotely are asked to continue doing so through March 31, 2021. Work Anywhere offers resources.

COVID-19 testing is required upon arrival and through the winter quarter for students who live on campus or come to campus frequently. Starting January 4, 2021, through the winter quarter, surveillance testing also is required for faculty, staff, and postdocs who are approved to work on-site. Dashboards provide aggregated results for the Stanford community.

Health Check to self-report health status is required on a daily basis for students on campus and for employees and postdocs working in-person at a Stanford facility. Training on COVID-19 hygiene is required before returning to work at a campus location for the first time.

Maintain physical distance from others at all times – generally at least 6 feet. Wear a face covering indoors (unless you are in your apartment, dorm unit or personal office and no one else is present who is not a member of your household) and also outdoors whenever 6 feet of physical distance cannot be maintained from people who are not in your household.

Gatherings are generally prohibited, both indoors and outdoors, with some exceptions for university-led academic activities and other activities. Students in R&DE-assigned housing can gather with members of their registered “households” of up to 8 people (though such gatherings of households are not permitted for the first two weeks that returning or newly arriving students are on campus following winter break). Beyond Stanford, the State’s regional “stay at home” order currently in effect in the Bay Area also prohibits gatherings and limits other activities.

Nonessential visitors to campus are limited under the campus zones program. Public events, performances and exhibitions are not occurring in person. Certain essential visitors (including spouses/partners and minor dependents) are allowed in student residences. New appointments of visitors, including visiting scholars, visiting postdocs, visiting student researchers and others, are restricted.

University-sponsored travel is suspended. If you arrive from travel of more than 150 miles outside of Santa Clara County, you must quarantine for 10 days; it is recommended that you get tested on day 6 or later and also monitor for any symptoms until 14 days. This Santa Clara County directive is now in effect “until rescinded or modified” by the county. The 10-day travel quarantine also applies to all undergraduates arriving for winter quarter from travel of any distance. For employees working at either the main Stanford campus or Stanford Redwood City, if you travel more than 150 miles from either Santa Clara or San Mateo counties, you should not return to on-site work for 10 days after return; there is no testing exception.

Athletics activities that involve contact, that do not allow for social distancing, or that take place indoors are currently prohibited in Santa Clara County under a county directive.

Exercise outdoors is encouraged, subject to physical distancing. Pool reservations and other recreational offerings are available for those approved to be on-site.

COVID Dashboards
Stanford’s COVID dashboards provide daily and weekly updates about COVID surveillance testing, isolation, and prevalence in the Stanford community.
Latest Updates
COVID-19 vaccine update
In a message to the campus community, Russell Furr, associate vice provost for Environmental Health & Safety addresses the vaccine plan for California, including the role of health care providers in the process; Stanford Health Care’s current distribution priorities; and the creation of Stanford’s COVID-19 Vaccine Governance Committee.
Read more about COVID-19 vaccine updateBay Area stay-at-home order continues
The State of California’s regional stay-at-home order for the Bay Area continues to be in effect. The order, initially in effect through last week, will be lifted once there is a four-week projection that regional intensive care unit capacity will remain at or above 15%.
Read more about Bay Area stay-at-home order continuesTesting, Prevention & Care
Frequently Asked Questions

For COVID-19 related information for the Stanford community from prevention strategies to university operations to finding help:
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Learn Anywhere
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Teach Anywhere
This guide provides you suggested actions to take quickly when making the shift from teaching in a classroom to teaching anywhere.
Visit the Teach Anywhere website
Research Continuity
Guidance and information on research continuity, sponsor agency, funding opportunities and COVID-19 research at Stanford.
Learn about research continuity
Work Anywhere
Technology resources, services, and equipment to enable the success of Stanford’s distributed workforce — no matter where your “office” may be.
Visit the Work Anywhere websiteStanford COVID-19 research & crisis response
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Learn about Stanford’s response plan to unite COVID researchStanford scholars and researchers lend their expertise to tackling the COVID-19 crisis
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