Norovirus was the cause of a December food poisoning outbreak that sickened 282 people who ate at a Jimmy John’s restaurant in Garden City, Kansas, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) has confirmed. State and county officials worked together to determine the source of the outbreak which sickened customers who visited the restaurant from December 10 to December 24.
The restaurant was inspected by the Kansas Department of Agriculture on December 18 and again on December 24. It closed voluntarily from December 24 through December 26 to clean and disinfect the restaurant.
Norovirus is highly contagious. About half of all food posioning outbreaks are caused by norovirus, often a sick food handler is involved, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea and low-grade fever.
In restaurant settings, the virus is usually transmitted when a food handler who has been sick has microscopic amounts of vomit or stool on his or her hands and touches food or a food preparation surface.
You are most contagious while you have symptoms and for three days afte they resolve. If you are a food worker, you should not report to work if you are ill.
