Dear students,
We hope that your fall term continues to go well and that you are looking forward to the upcoming holiday season. In preparation for your departure in a few weeks, we are sharing information to help make your travel and time away safe and healthy.
The CDC currently offers the following guidance regarding holiday travel in the United States:
If you are planning to attend in-person holiday gatherings with people outside of your household, consider strictly avoiding contact with people outside of your household for 14 days before the gathering.
In addition to following this guidance, we encourage you to take advantage of the university’s COVID-19 testing opportunities outlined below.
Testing Tuesday 11/10
This is a reminder to students to take advantage of Testing Tuesday on November 10 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon at the Cowell Health Center. Students must make an appointment and pre-register for this FREE testing (instructions on this website). This will give you plenty of time to follow CDC guidelines regarding holiday travel and to isolate in the event of a positive result before traveling home.
Exit Testing 11/16-17
We strongly encourage students to take advantage of extra days of free testing on November 16-17 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Leavey Center. Students must make an appointment and pre-register for this testing.
Test Results
Test results will be available in 24-48 hours. We strongly encourage students to quarantine and socialize only with those in their household until leaving for the holidays. Remember - a negative test result is only accurate for the day of the test - if you are exposed after the test, you could get infected before heading home.
Students who test positive will be contacted within 24 hours of their test result by SCU Tracking and Tracing to determine the appropriate amount of time to isolate (~10 days depending on circumstances) as indicated on the Santa Clara County COVID website before traveling home.
If a resident student tests positive during exit testing, SCU's Isolation & Quarantine Protocol will be automatically activated. The Housing Operations will contact the student regarding a move to St. Clare Hall for an appropriate amount of time and other resources.
If a student living off-campus tests positive, we encourage the student to isolate in their residence for an appropriate amount of time.
Report all Positive Cases to Covid Hotline
Santa Clara University urges all students, faculty, and staff to contact the (408) 554-5100 hotline in the event they test positive for COVID-19 -- regardless of where they were tested, where they live, or whether they have symptoms. This confidential report enables us to provide our community with an accurate count of COVID-19 positive cases; respond to cleaning needs; provide health and Human Resources support as appropriate; and assist in contact tracing which is vital to stopping the spread of the virus. The 5100 number is manned 24/7 and is a vital component of our COVID-19 campus response. All positive COVID-19 cases need to be reported to (408) 554-5100. Together, we can stop the spread.
Thank you for doing your part to keep our community here safe as well as your families and loved ones back home.
Robin Reynolds
Associate Vice President for Auxiliary Services
Katherine Saxton|
SCU COVID Health Ambassador
Director, Public Health Program