Chipotle CEO Apologizes for E.Coli Outbreak, One Seattle Location Closes

According to William Marler, an attorney with Seattle food-safety law firm Marler Clark LLP, the Chipotle outbreak is unlike any other he has seen before, including the infamous 1993 Jack in the Box outbreak. According to the commission, nearly 129 students from Boston College contracted norovirus from the Chipotle eatery. the commission also said that seven other people were also reported sick but the were not associated with the college.

The number of Chipotle victims in the nine-state outbreak is likely much higher than the current 52 counted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Marler said. Norovirus can cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Certain clients were forced to miss months of work due to hospitalization, and the attorney is in the midst of multiple lawsuits against Chipotle. Despite Ells’ apology, the restaurant chain’s stock prices have tanked.

“I have to say I’m sorry for the people that got sick. They’re having a tough time and I feel bad about that”, Ells said in an interview on NBC’s Today show. Though, the exact reason for the outbreak is still unknown, Steve assured that they are doing hard to identify the cause and to make sure that it won’t happen again.

A press release from the CDC with specific details about the Chipotle outbreaks can be found here. Seattle suffered the first E. coli cases in July, followed by nearly 100 cases of norovirus – a highly-contagious virus that inflames a person’s stomach or intestines – in California’s Simi Valley the following month. The majority of illnesses have been reported from Washington and OR during October 2015. 200 people from the building who have now taken ill had participated in a catered event. Each year, norovirus causes 19 million to 21 million illnesses. Twenty (38%) people reported being hospitalized. Fortunately, there were no reports of kidney failure and deaths. However, reports were steadily coming in, and officials predicted that as many as 140 people may have become sickened with the norovirus. This takes an average of 2 to 3 weeks.

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., based in Denver, has more than 1,900 locations, primarily in the U.S. The company has already warned that sales are expected to fall as much as 11 percent at established locations for the fourth quarter as a result of bad publicity from the E. coli cases. Campus health officials found that the common link between the ill students was that they had eaten at the same Chipotle.

Whether it would be you or me, we all think twice before visiting the well-known Mexican chain restaurant Chipotle.

Just when it seems Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) might be getting out of the way of the E.coli that sickened scores of customers in Washington, California and Minnesota as far back as last summer, on Thursday, Seattle & King County Public Health Department closed a Chipotle location because of “repeated food safety violations”.