The Wyoming Department of Health has issued its final report on the norovirus outbreak in Casper and Natrona counties in December 2012. Several hundred people were sickened in the outbreak that is being called a “restaurant-associated event.” The illness was spread through 31 ill food workers at the Golden Corral restaurant in Casper who kept working even though they were sick.
The report states, “over 95 percent of cases report patronizing the restaurant on or after December 7, 2012, which indicates some event occurred that allowed a large number of people to be exposed over that weekend. Further, attack rates among parties of multiple Golden Corral patrons are high (61-73 percent), which is not commonly seen in community-wide outbreaks and is more common during restaurant-associated outbreaks.”
Attorney Fred Pritzker, who has represented clients sickened by norovirus, said, “it’s critical that ill food handlers should not be allowed to work when they are exhibiting symptoms. Restaurant management must take the responsibility to ensure that the food they serve is wholesome and not contaminated with viruses and bacteria.”
The report states that there were 344 illnesses in Casper, with 282 primary cases that were associated with Golden Corral. The other 62 cases were secondary, meaning someone who ate at the Golden Corral passed the virus along to someone else. Between December 10 and December 21, 2012, the Casper-Natrona County Health Department (CNCHD) received 205 phone calls from people reporting at least one foodborne illness in their family members or restaurant party members. Among those calls, 194 calls reported illness after visiting Golden Corral. The only common exposure among all outbreak-related cases was Golden Corral.
Investigators interviewed 146 “plaintiff groups”, yielding 276 people who became sick after visiting the restaurant. Of course, 240 met the case definition for gastroenteritis. Of those patients, 96.1% had diarrhea, 95.1$ had nausea, 90.6% had vomiting, 88.3% had stomach cramping, and 73.1% had chills. Of the 31 Golden Corral employees who met the case definition for gastroenteritis, 79.3% had nausea, 77.4% had diarrhea, 4.1% had chills, 67.7% had vomiting, and 72.4% had stomach cramping.
An environmental health inspector from CNCHD conducted a routine inspection after receiving one customer complaint on December 10, 2012 and found no critical food safety violations. But the next day, more complaints were logged, and the restaurant was visited again to tell management to follow the Wyoming Food Safety Rule. The Golden Corral manager was called on December 11, 2012 but did not respond to CNCHD. On December 12, 2012, CNCHD conducted an outbreak-related inspection and found a number of violations. The restaurant was closed the next day to clean and disinfect the entire facility.
