Madison restaurant reopens after norovirus outbreak

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A Mexican restaurant in Madison is open again following a norovirus outbreak, according to officials with Public Health Madison and Dane County.

The restaurant closed Thursday after health inspectors received complaints of people getting sick after eating there. The inspectors visited the restaurant and determined a threat to public safety was severe enough to shut the restaurant down.

The environmental director of Public Health Madison, Doug Voegeli, says 25 people became sick with norovirus after eating at La Hacienda.

Health officials confirm norovirus was the cause of the food illness outbreak at La Hacienda last week. The restaurant is now reopen. #news3now pic.twitter.com/YSpHuhcnTU

— Jamie Perez (@JamiePerezTV) May 14, 2019

Voegeli told News 3, “We will always close a restaurant for imminent health hazards. Foodborne illness is an example. We will also close for lack of hot water, sewage backup, temperature violations, etc.”

Katie Spaeth said her entire Frisbee team ate at the restaurant on May 4 and nine out of 16 of her teammates got sick.

“I got sick Sunday night around 8 p.m. and by Monday morning around 2 a.m., my husband took me to the hospital because I was very sick,” Spaeth said.

Spaeth added none of her teammates ordered the same thing, and said, “I won’t be going back there ever again.”

Voegeli said they may never be able to pinpoint the exact cause of how the norovirus was brought into the restaurant. However, the executive vice president of the Wisconsin Restaurant Association, Susan Quam, said there are likely causes that she’s seen happen before.

“It can spread through food, on contact surfaces, and it is a pretty variant and lively virus once it gets introduced into an environment,” Quam said.

Quam said poor personal hygiene, a sick employee or even sick customer can cause the virus to spread.

“Some customers have brought norovirus into the restaurant and spread it around and other customers have brought it around through contract surfaces,” Quam said.

Health officials were not able to comment further, but this isn’t the restaurant’s first violation of health codes.

During a routine inspection in 2014, the restaurant violated health standards including improper employee health reporting, chemical sanitization, and heating foods at improper temperatures. In 2017, they violated health codes related to improper cooling.

Health officials say they’re still looking into this, but in the meantime, Quam said this could be a learning opportunity for the restaurant

“They have some really good training of everybody that works in the restaurant so they understand their responsibility to not come to work ill or proper cleaning and sanitizing when they’re there,” Quam said.

The owner of La Hacienda was not available to provide comment on the situation.

#LaHacienda is now open after its closure over the weekend. Public Health Madison confirmed 25 people got sick after eating there last week. pic.twitter.com/gAAzJ8NDBt

— Jamie Perez (@JamiePerezTV) May 14, 2019

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