Boston Chipotle cleared to reopen after 136 got norovirus

The federal agency said Monday those illnesses started between November 18 and November 26, and that all five people said they ate at a Chipotle restaurant the week before they became sick.

Follow-up tests found that almost all the employees are now free of the virus, and those still carrying it are barred from entering the building, Christopher said. The restaurant was forced to close by city officials on December 7 because of three health violations, officials said. Nineteen employees have been cleared to return to work, he added.

Boston Inspectional Services said the restaurant has been disinfected and a second round of samples tested negative for norovirus.

“Effective tomorrow morning, [Chipotle] can go back into business”, he said. “They have been working very closely with us”.

A sick employee is being blamed for the spreading of the norovirus to many who ate at Chipotle in early December.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that five people have been reported with the new variant of STEC O26 from a total of three states: Kansas (1), North Dakota (1), and Oklahoma (3).

The three cases being investigated in Oklahoma are thought to be a different strain of E. coli than what was involved in the larger outbreak earlier linked to Chipotle, said Tony Sellars, a spokesman for the Oklahoma State Department of Health.

“None of the ingredients in our restaurants today were present at the time of these illnesses”, Chipotle’s release read. The teen’s attorney, Bill Marler, said he also had suits pending against Chipotle in connection with a California norovirus outbreak, two E. coli outbreaks, and a salmonella outbreak in Minnesota. “With all of these programs in place, we are confident that we can achieve a level of food safety risk that is near zero”.