Norovirus outbreak associated with McDonald’s in Kirkland

Summary

Public Health investigated a norovirus outbreak associated with McDonald’s at 8515 124th Ave NE in Kirkland. Norovirus can spread very easily through contaminated food, surfaces, and from person to person.

This outbreak appears to be over.

Illnesses

Since October 29, 2024, three people who do not know each other reported becoming sick after eating food from McDonald’s at 8515 124ths Ave NE in Kirkland. We did not identify any sick restaurant workers. People sick with norovirus can be contagious without knowing it or have very mild symptoms.

Public Health actions

During our interviews with the sick people, the only thing they had in common was eating food from McDonald’s at 8515 124ths Ave NE in Kirkland.

We visited the restaurant on October 29, 2024, to investigate a related food safety complaint and confirmed that no restaurant workers reported being sick in the past two weeks. We did not find any unsafe food practices related to the spread of norovirus (such as improper hand washing or touching food with bare hands).  

We revisited the restaurant on November 1, 2024, and asked them to follow their norovirus cleaning protocols and complete a deep cleaning of the restaurant. We reviewed with restaurant management the requirement that sick workers are not allowed to work until they are symptom-free for at least 48 hours and provided education about preventing the spread of norovirus — including proper handwashing and preventing bare hand contact with ready-to-eat foods.

Laboratory testing

Two of the three people who became sick underwent testing. Both people tested positive for norovirus.