Another Chipotle restaurant is shut down for norovirus

Just when things looked like they were getting better for the Chipotle restaurant chain, a Boston-area location has had to shut down after a worker tested positive for norovirus. 

A location in Billerica, Massachusetts, shut down after one employee was found to have norovirus and others were suspected of also being sick. 

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There are no reports of customers becoming ill from the virus at the Billerica location.

Norovirus can be spread from person to person or through contaminated food or surfaces, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. Symptoms include diarrhea and vomiting. The virus is notorious for spreading quickly in places like cruise ships.

Another Boston-area Chipotle was shut down in November after dozens of Boston College students became ill from a similar virus at the Cleveland Circle location. 

A citywide inspection also turned up health code violations at two other locations, but, as a show of confidence in the restaurant's safety, the city's chief health inspector, William “Buddy” Christopher Jr., ate at the Cleveland Circle location in late December to prove all was well.

In February, the chain instituted a nationwide one-day shutdown of its locations in a PR move that was also meant to address a series of health issues at its stores that left hundreds sick and hammered the restaurant chain's credibility for high-quality food.

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In the fourth of quarter of 2015, dozens of people were sickened by E. coli after eating at Chipotle locations across nine states, predominantly in the Pacific Northwest. The outbreak prompted a public apology from the restaurant chain's CEO. 

The incidents affected the chain's bottom line: Chipotle's fourth-quarter revenue in 2015 was down 30% compared to the same period a year earlier — particularly bad for a company that had been growing rapidly.

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