Billerica Chipotle shut down after employee diagnosed with norovirus
No reports of customers becoming ill
A Chipotle restaurant in Billerica voluntarily closed its doors Tuesday after an employee was diagnosed with norovirus, health officials said.
The restaurant has been cleared to resume operations on Thursday once all food employees have been screened for norovirus before returning to work.
Three employees called in sick for their shifts at the Boston Road restaurant on Tuesday, although there may have been up to four employees who were not feeling well.
One of those employees has a confirmed case of norovirus, and two others are suspected cases. No one was physically ill while handling food, and it's unclear if anyone was contagious prior to Tuesday.
"The employees did not come into the restaurant," Sandra Giroux, of the Billerica Board of Health, said. "They called in sick. Chipotle has voluntarily shut down and are throwing away all of the food items in the store and are sanitizing everything according to their new protocol."
The Billerica Board of Health conducted a follow-up inspection of the establishment Wednesday and were satisfied with the sanitation.
A Chipotle in Cleveland Circle was closed for weeks in December after more than 140 people, mainly Boston College students, became sick with symptoms of norovirus after eating there.
Health officials determined a sick employee was the source of the outbreak.
After the outbreak, Chipotle founder Steve Ells took out a full-page ad in the Boston Globe to apologize.