Chipotle restaurants reopening; E. coli cause not found

At the latest count, 45 in Oregon and Washington have been sickened in the E. coli outbreak linked to Chipotle. On Tuesday, the Mexican food chain announced it was going to reopen all 43 restaurants it had voluntarily closed.

It’s Tuesday afternoon, lunchtime in Bend.

“I got a steak burrito from Chipotle,” said one Bend resident.

The E. coli outbreak was traced back to 11 Chipotle restaurants in the Pacific Northwest. The Bend location was not aftfected.

“We haven’t gotten any cases that are connected to the Chipotle outbreak,” said Heather Kaisner with Deschutes County Health Services.

While Deschutes County reported one E. coli case last month, tests determined it was not linked to the Chipotle outbreak.

“We get several E. coli cases each month,” Kaisner said. “It’s not uncommon.”

Incubation time is usually three to four days but no longer than 10 days. The last confirmed case in Oregon was reported on Oct. 24.

“The fact that they hadn’t had any reported illnesses since late October suggests that that part of the illness may be over,” said Jonathan Modie with the Oregon Health Authority.

That gave Chipotle enough assurance to reopen the closed restaurants. In a statement, the company said: “The restaurants are opening in the coming days with a fresh supply of all new ingredients.”

There’s just one problem: The cause of the outbreak is still unknown.

“Unfortunately, that’s pretty normal,” Kaisner said. “These big outbreaks, sometimes it’s really difficult to find the source. I know they’ve tested lots of different food.”

The Oregon Health Authority tested dozens of samples.

“We looked at tomatoes, jalapeos, we looked at romaine lettuce, we looked at the corn used in salsa,” Modie said.

All samples came back negative for E. coli.

“It could have come from just one package of fresh produce that they’ve used once, and now it’s gone forever,” Kaisner said.

Officials are confident that it came from outside of the restaurant.

“It looks like it came from somewhere in the distribution line,” Modie said.

The investigation continues, and health officials are still hoping to find the cause. Meanwhile, Bendites continue to enjoy their burritos.

“It might be Russian roulette, but I’m pretty hungry,” said a Bend resident.