All natural norovirus at Chipotle in Ohio
The Chipotle restaurant across from Kent State University in Ohio appears to be the source of hundreds of norovirus illnesses this weekend.
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One report cited Kent health officials as saying that 432 people had reported norovirus symptoms as of Monday afternoon.
Victims began showing up at local hospitals Thursday evening and the restaurant closed Friday.
Many of those who got ill were Kent State University students. The restaurant is directly across from the campus, and students who took part in a recent American Red Cross blood drive received a coupon for free food at Chipotle.
Kent Health Commissioner John Ferlito said Saturday the health department and the Denver-based restaurant chain agreed to switch employees out of concern that the outbreak might be caused by a sick employee. Several of the restaurant's employees had been ill, but they also had eaten the restaurant's food.
Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold said in a statement Saturday,
"Local health department officials have found no violations in inspections of our Kent State restaurant conducted after this incident was first reported, and again in an inspection this morning. We have reopened our restaurant with their full support. We have taken preventative steps that meet or exceed health department requirements, and will continue to assist them in their investigation."
If someone wants to check out Kent State University and Chipotle on Facebook, I bet there's lots of stories to hear.
Antibiotics? How about norovirus?
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One report cited Kent health officials as saying that 432 people had reported norovirus symptoms as of Monday afternoon.Victims began showing up at local hospitals Thursday evening and the restaurant closed Friday.
Many of those who got ill were Kent State University students. The restaurant is directly across from the campus, and students who took part in a recent American Red Cross blood drive received a coupon for free food at Chipotle.
Kent Health Commissioner John Ferlito said Saturday the health department and the Denver-based restaurant chain agreed to switch employees out of concern that the outbreak might be caused by a sick employee. Several of the restaurant's employees had been ill, but they also had eaten the restaurant's food.
Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold said in a statement Saturday,
"Local health department officials have found no violations in inspections of our Kent State restaurant conducted after this incident was first reported, and again in an inspection this morning. We have reopened our restaurant with their full support. We have taken preventative steps that meet or exceed health department requirements, and will continue to assist them in their investigation."
If someone wants to check out Kent State University and Chipotle on Facebook, I bet there's lots of stories to hear.
Antibiotics? How about norovirus?
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BarfBlog -
April 23, 2008 11:09 AM
Katie Byard at Ohio.com reports this morning that the number of potential norovirus cases linked to a Kent, Ohio Chipotle has grown to 435. The story also says that Chipotle has established a claims process to reimburse the related medical...
BarfBlog -
July 2, 2008 8:01 PM
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., famous for telling consumers what isn’t in its foods – antibiotics, hormones – and has had a couple of recent unpleasantries associated with their food – norovirus and hepatitis A – announced i...
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My son was violently ill from this outbreak and went to the ER at Robinson Memorial Hosp. I personally contacted Chipotle about his situation and I must say....they immediately responded within only a few hours, appologized and stepped up promising to take care of all medical bills. The next day I had received several personal phone calls from them following up and sincerely showing concern. I feel as a Company they handled this with promptness and respect for the customer. I would never consider going to any parasitic lawyer for additional compensation because this is a Company that truly cares for the individual customer!
Hi Diane,
I don't know if you'll still be checking up on this, but I would love to talk to you about your experience. I'm glad to hear it was pretty positive (as positive as it could be, I'm sure). I am not a lawyer, but I am doing some research about foodborne illness and how it's affected real people, so it'd be great if you could tell me about the length of your illness, your medical costs, etc.
Feel free to email me at april.hirsh@mail.org.
Thanks,
April