Local

Norovirus outbreak linked to Kirkland McDonald’s

KIRKLAND, Wash. — The King County Department of Health says three people fell ill after eating at a McDonald’s in Kirkland end of last month.

The department says two of the people tested positive for norovirus.

All three reported eating at the fast-food restaurant on 124th Avenue Northeast between October 23 and 26 and started to feel sick a short time later.

The health department visited the restaurant on October 29 to investigate and confirmed that no restaurant workers reported being sick in the past two weeks.

“We did not find any unsafe food practices related to the spread of norovirus,” the department said in a news release.

Health officials say they revisited the restaurant on November 1 and asked them to follow their norovirus cleaning protocols and complete a deep cleaning of the restaurant.

“We reviewed with restaurant management the requirement that sick workers are not allowed to work until they are symptom-free for at least 48 hours and provided education about preventing the spread of norovirus — including proper handwashing and preventing bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat foods,” the health department announced Thursday.

People sick with norovirus can be contagious without knowing it or have very mild symptoms.

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