A Maggiano's restaurant in Bellevue, Washington, has been temporarily closed due to a suspected norovirus that may have sickened as many as 50 people.
"Last Wednesday, Maggiano's became aware of a party that reported illness after visiting our restaurant in Bellevue two days prior, on Monday, January 18," the company said in a statement,
KING-TV reported Tuesday.
"We immediately reported this potential issue to the King County Health Department, and have been working closely with them to thoroughly investigate. To date, we have no confirmed diagnosis of a food-borne illness, and no other reports of any guest outside of this single party becoming ill," it continued.
The Seattle Times reported that the restaurant's food-business permit has been suspended, and that a cleaning and sanitizing effort is underway.
Norovirus is highly contagious, and can be spread through food or person-to-person. Symptoms typically include vomiting and diarrhea.
Eater.com reported that the King County health department said it is not sure where the suspected virus may have even come from.
"One or more of the [event] attendees may have already been ill at the time of the event. Several restaurant workers were also believed to be ill with symptoms consistent with norovirus dating back to 1/9/16 and over the subsequent two weeks," it said in a statement.
Norovirus recently broke out at a Chipotle in Boston this past December, sickening more than 100 people.
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