Just when you thought it was safe to go back near the burritos, a Chipotle in Massachusetts has reportedly closed their location because of another employee with norovirus. If you recall, this whole drama started way back in the fall when dozens of Chipotle customers grew violently ill across multiple states and were able to trace back their medical problems to eating at the fast food chain. Then, more states were added to the count over a month later, just when the chain thought they were out of hot water and in full bounce-back mode.
Chipotle went into apology overdrive with their CEO reacting to the problem and offering solutions. The company also closed every store for an entire day to address health concerns and re-train employees on how to handle food products. Even John Oliver got involved by chastising everyone for running back into Chipotle’s warm guacamole embrace way sooner than they reasonably should have. Now, a Billerica location seems to have proven Oliver right. According to WHDH in Massachusetts, more trouble has arrived:
A Chipotle restaurant in Billerica has temporarily closed after one of its workers was diagnosed with norovirus.
One of the store’s workers has a confirmed case of norovirus, according to the town’s health department. The remaining two workers are suspected of having the virus.
The are no reports of any customers becoming ill. The city’s health department says the restaurant voluntarily shut down on Tuesday.
On the bright side, at least Chipotle got ahead of the issue this time and shut the location down before the employee was able to contaminate everything and get a bunch of people sick. On the other hand, this means that all of those free burritos to earn back goodwill might have been a waste of time. And customers will once again worry about who is touching their food and what viruses they are carrying.
(via WHDH 7)