Chipotle reopens Boston restaurant linked to norovirus outbreak

The restaurant was shut down on December 7 after more than 120 Boston College students showed gastrointestinal symptoms consistent with the norovirus after dining there.

According to reports, the Chipotle Mexican Grill in Cleveland Circle which sickened nearly 136 students from Boston College with norovirus has now been allowed to reopen.

After the Cleveland Circle restaurant was closed, health inspectors had to close to two other Chipotle locations in Boston owing to different health code problems.

They say the outbreak was likely caused by a sick employee and isn’t linked to E. coli cases that shuttered dozens of restaurants in OR and Washington in October.

Monday, the head of Boston’s health inspectors, William “Buddy” Christopher, had a made-for-media lunch at the Chipotle – steak, chicken, peppers, onions – to underscore: It’s been cleaned up and deemed safe by the Inspectional Services Department.

The restaurant reopened on Saturday after being closed for three weeks because of the highly contagious sickness which spreads because of contaminated food or surfaces, a Chipotle spokesperson told MarketWatch. Reporters interviewed many patrons leaving the reopened restaurant, on Sunday.

However, before the opening of the restaurant, all the employees of the outlet were tested and were determined free of the norovirus which infected over 100 people.

“The Chipotle food-borne illness case will now be studied by restaurant operators, financial pros and p.r. officials for years to come”, noted JP Morgan analyst John Ivankoe as stated by New York Post.

According to the local government, on Wednesday, the restaurant has passed the health inspection and can now reopen its doors on Thursday. The reopening comes after last week’s second E. coli outbreak, which affected five people who had eaten at Chipotle restaurants in Kansas, North Dakota, and Oklahoma.

In a statement provided to CNBC News, chipotle also announced that it expected to see $6 million to $8 million in the fourth quarter to deal with food safety issues, but made clear that this “does not include any estimate for legal claims and related expenses”.