High School Student Contracts Norovirus After Local Chipotle Closes For Illness

BILLERICA, MA - A student at Billerica Memorial High School has contracted norovirus, school officials told parents in an email Wednesday morning.

The notification came a day after the Chipotle in the Treble Cove Plaza in Billerica was closed down after it was discovered a worker at that location had contracted norovirus.

In his letter to Billerica High School parents, Principal Tom Murphy says the student, who is not in school, tested positive for norovirus and cleaning has been done in certain areas of the high school and will continue throughout the week. It’s currently unknown if the student ate at Chipotle prior to contracting the illness.

School officials will be monitoring the situation in conjunction with the Billerica Town Nurse and Board of Health. The school attendance rate at school Wednesday morning is typical for both students and staff.

The health inspector was at the Chipotle location Wednesday morning one day after the business was closed. Also on Wednesday morning, Chipotle tweeted its Billerica location was still closed and was being sanitized after four employees reported feeling ill. They also said “no customer illnesses are connected."

The closing of the Billerica Chipotle on Tuesday came one month to the day after Chipotle restaurants nationwide shutdown for safety training following separate outbreaks of E. coli and norovirus at stores in several states around the country.

Locally last December, more than 140 students from Boston College contracted norovirus days after health officials shut down a Boston-area Chipotle Mexican Grill. At the time Chipotle CEO and founder Steve Ells apologized to the public, and promised the company has learned from the outbreaks that have affected restaurants across the country.