A lot of disappointed Chipotle customers were turned away at the restaurant on the Ave near the University of Washington.
"For college students especially," said Jody Luk, a UW Junior. "We're always struggling to get more money. So with the amount of food they give us and the price, it's like the best bang for your buck."
But the Mexican fast food giant won't be getting any bucks at all at its 43 restaurants in the Washington and Oregon this Halloween weekend.
The company closed them all after state and local health officials said 22 people, 19 of them in this state, got sick with Ecoli, most of them Chipotle customers.
"Of the 19 Washington cases, 17 ate at Chipotle," said Dr. Marisa D'Angeli, a public health physician at the state Department of Health. "Two did not."
At a rare Saturday news conference, health officials said they're awaiting additional lab tests to get more useful information about linking the cases they know about now.
"That information will be very useful," said Dr. Jeff Duchin of Seattle/King County Health. "(It) will help us hone in on how many cases exactly we think may be linked together, probably next week, late week."
They said there are four cases in King County, nine in Clark County, one in Cowlitz County and five cases in Skagit County, people suffering from the intestinal illness.
Eight victims have been hospitalized but no one has died.
Several employees were working at the University Ave Chipotle restaurant.
Some of them appeared to be doing a lot of cleaning. "When they have these kind of outbreaks happening at chains, they're probably even more on top of it afterwards," said Steve Delph, who says he ate at Chipotle a couple of days ago.
"So you're probably safer after the event than before the first episode happens."
The people who got sick ate at six Chipotle restaurants October 14-23.
Public health officials say anyone who got sick after eating there, with vomiting or bloody diarrhea, should be checked out.
KIRO
