Norovirus likely sickened Chipotle customers

Che Knight, director of communications for the Boston Public Health Commission, said the agency could not confirm that norovirus sickened the students. Chipotle executives previously said that the chain’s same-store sales growth would be more modest this year, as it’s up against a tough year-ago comparison. “The restaurant is closed and will remain closed until we decide it’s safe to open”.

Representatives of Chipotle said that there were no confirmed cases of E.coli connected to Chipotle in Massachussetts and that the illnesses could not be associated with the outbreaks in the other nine states.

“Health officials in Boston believe this is likely a norovirus, which seems consistent with the pattern, in our estimation”, Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold told NBC News.

Norovirus is highly contagious and causes symptoms like stomach aches, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. In spite of the spread, the health officials have not been able to identify the exact ingredient that is causing the trouble.

The college said in a statement Monday that it had notified the Massachusetts Department of Public Health that the students, including members of the men’s basketball team, requested treatment for “gastrointestinal symptoms”.

Federal investigators are trying to figure out how people got E. coli at a popular restaurant chain. The violations include meats that were not being kept at a high enough temperature and an employee being sick while working a shift Thursday.

Chipotle said it was working with local officials to sanitize the Boston franchise and to test all employees for the norovirus. However, the company has stated that the closure was voluntary. City inspectors found that the chicken was being kept at 128 degrees and the steak at 124 degrees. “If there is a question of illness, we want to make sure the establishment will properly manage it so there will not be a thing”, Boston Inspectional Services Commissioner William Christopher Jr. said.

The city noted in its statement that “information is constantly evolving”.

Even though the source of the outbreak has not been determinate yet s spokesman for Boston Collage said authorities focused on the Cleveland Circle Chipotle location.

The number of students who reported being sick on Tuesday was up from Monday, when the number was pegged at around 25, including eight basketball players. Fortunately the Charlotte residents, there haven’t been any confirmed cases in the area, but people who eat at Chipotle restaurants in Charlotte are wondering how did this happen, what’s being done about it, and are they safe to eat there?