Woodinville Restaurant Reopens After Illness Scare

WOODINVILLE, WA - A local restaurant that voluntarily closed this week after a number of patrons came down with a norovirus-like illness has reopened after a thorough cleaning, the restaurant says.

Mi Tierra, 13408 NE 175th St., closed voluntarily on Wednesday after being alerted by King County health officials that several patrons had come down with a norovirus-like sickness. King County health officials say that customers from three separate meal parities reported symptoms consistent with nororvirus between March 10 and March 11. About 21 people in total became ill.

General Manager Alexis Magana told Patch.com that the restaurant reopened Friday morning after several days of cleaning, including disposing of almost all of the food in the restaurant and cleaning all surfaces.

Norovirus can cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, and can last as long as 48 hours. Norovirus is extremely contagious, and is easily transmitted through food. However, it's not clear that food was the culprit at Mi Tierra.

Norovirus can live on surfaces, and you can come into contact with the virus by shaking hands or touching a contaminated area, for example - indeed, a trampoline park in Marysville recently saw an outbreak. Last week, an elementary school in Seattle was closed for several days due to a large norovirus outbreak. You can get norovirus at any time of the year, but it tends to spread more easily in winter because people are indoors close together.

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