In a premarket trade Wednesday, Chipotle's shares dropped 2.4% after a reported case of norovirus where employees became afflicted at a Boston-area restaurant chain. The establishment stopped operation due to the illness with symptoms that include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps together with headache, body aches and fever.
Fortunately, there were no sick customers reported and that a Chipotle spokesperson informed the newspaper that before the restaurant reopens it will be fully sanitized. The information comes as Chipotle tries hard to recover from a succession of foodborne illness outbreaks along with another Boston outlet norovirus case that made about 140 people seriously ill last December, according to Market Watch.
The chain that was closed for sanitation is situated in Billerica outside Boston. Chipotle is making enough effort to rebuild its good reputation after dealing with several food-related illnesses, among which are two E.Coli outbreaks that made about 50 people sick in 14 states and two separate cases of norovirus in California and Massachusetts. It was confirmed from the Massachusetts health department that the restaurant voluntarily closed for full cleaning, FoxNews Health reports.
"No customer illnesses are connected to this restaurant. Any employee who reported feeling ill will be held out of the restaurant until they fully recover," says company spokesman Chris Arnold.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, norovirus can be transmitted from person to person or via contaminated surfaces or food. Common symptoms are vomiting and diarrhea. The virus disseminate at a fast rate in places such as cruise ships, as reported by Mashable.
In February, all Chipotle stores across the U.S. shuts down for a day to address and educate employees about the series of health issues the food restaurant chain is dealing with that leaves hundreds of people ill. In 2015's fourth quarter, more than a dozen people fell ill to E.Coli after eating at Chipotle locations across the nine states preferably in the Pacific Northwest. The incidents greatly affect Chipotle's 2015 fourth quarter earnings that plunge to 30% which is definitely not good for a company that is increasingly growing.
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