Chipotle Grill on Guadalupe Street reopened its doors Friday after being closed nearly three days to undergo inspections by the Austin/Travis County Health Department.
After a viral outbreak last week, the grill brought in an entirely different crew to open the restaurant, and previous employees will not be able to return to work until they test negative for the virus, which infected 26 Chipotle customers, said Chris Arnold, spokesman for Chipotle.
"Given that we've had no new reports of cases, Chipotle's cooperation to bring their practices to the safest level possible, and them bringing in a new crew, we felt it was OK for them to open," said Aldofo Valadez, the medical director for the Austin/Travis County Health Department.
Chipotle also removed any ready-to-eat foods in order to clean and sanitize the entire restaurant. All of Chipotle's employees, crew, managers and supervisors were interviewed and tested for the virus, Arnold said.
"We did identify several employees who were ill during this time period and an employee who had a positive stool culture for the norovirus," Valadez said.
The Austin/Travis County Health Department inspected Chipotle within 24 hours after University Health Services reported seven cases of food-borne illness on June 18. The restaurant, known for its huge burritos, passed the inspection and continued to stay open. As days passed, more and more people became ill, raising the number to 26, Valadez said.
Each of the 26 cases became ill two days after eating at Chipotle and had similar symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea, said Valadez. All patients tested positive for the norovirus, a group of viruses that causes gastroenteritis, which leads to irritation and inflammation of the digestive tract.
"We volunteered in the first place to close, and based on where the health department stands, they are comfortable with everything that we've done to remove this virus, assuming it was in the restaurant in the first place," Arnold said.
The norovirus is hard to find in foods, and typically, food-borne outbreaks are due to an employee contaminating the food, Valadez said.
"It's called fecal-oral spread," said Ginger Bloomer, a UHS physician who treated the seven initial students. "There are microscopic amounts of the virus on the employee's hands after they have used the bathroom, it gets on the food, and now you eat it."
The health department worked with the Chipotle staff to stress the importance of hand-washing to minimize the risk of food-borne illnesses, Valadez said.
"Employees aren't trying to make people sick," Valadez said. "They go into work sick because they need to work, just like everybody else."
Arnold said the restaurant plans to stay open and conduct business as usual.
"We're all learning the importance of hygiene," Valadez said. "When people feel ill, they should not go to work, because they can spread the virus to others. This situation is an example of that."
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