BOSTON, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- The Cleveland Circle Chipotle Mexican Grill that sickened 136 Boston College students with norovirus was allowed to reopen over the holiday weekend, nearly three weeks after Boston health officials forced the restaurant to close.
Officials gave Chipotle permission to once again serve and sell food on Dec. 23, but a water leak further delayed the restaurant's reopening.
"We didn't have to do anything more than fixing the leak and any related damage," Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold told the Boston Globe.
Earlier this month, dozens of students reported getting sick after eating at the restaurant. City officials found several health code violations, including insufficiently heated meat. It was also determined a sick employee reported to work.
But all employees have since been tested and determined free of the virus that sickened so many.
On Sunday, reporters interviewed several patrons leaving the reopened restaurant.
Nikhil Shankar, an emergency room doctor at nearby Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said the new bill of health issued by city officials was enough for him to feel comfortable eating at the popular franchise.
"If I get sick, I get sick," he told the Boston Herald. "Someone had to try it again."
Chipotle food has also been recently linked with an outbreak of E. coli that sickened 52 people across nine states. But officials say the Boston restaurant's problems were unrelated.
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