Casa Mia in Kennewick reopens after suspected norovirus outbreak sickens customers

The Kennewick Casa Mia Italian Restaurant is back open after voluntarily closing for two days because of a suspected norovirus outbreak.

The Benton-Franklin Health District confirmed it received more than two reports from customers who said they became ill after eating at the restaurant at 2541 W. Kennewick Ave. Another customer who reported feeling ill called this week, said health officials.

Lars Richins, food safety program manager, said norovirus, the “cruise ship virus,” is suspected but not confirmed. The investigation is ongoing, he said.

The investigation includes talking with people, checking into where and what they have eaten and their symptoms.

The suspected outbreak was reported just two weeks after Casa Mia received clean scores on its June 11 routine inspection by the health district’s food safety team.

The inspection yielded five points on a 418-point scale, a close-to-perfect score that meant it did not require a follow-up visit.

Voluntary closures normal

Richins said it is standard procedure to ask restaurants to voluntarily close when norovirus is suspected.

During closures, food is tossed out, the restaurant is cleaned and employees are retrained on safe food handling procedures.

A Casa Mia manager confirmed with the Herald that they closed voluntarily and referred questions to the health district.

Casa Mia is open again after being closed June 25-27.

Richins emphasized that Casa Mia fully cooperated with health officials in the investigation.

Norovirus can spread through person-to-person contact or through food. It is the leading cause of food-borne illness in Washington, accounting for 50 to 60 percent of health department investigations.

Norovirus symptoms

Highly contagious, norovirus leads to diarrhea, vomiting and potential dehydration. While unpleasant, it typically does not have lingering effects.

Vulnerable people, including the young, elderly and those with compromised immune systems, are most at risk from dehydration.

Richins said symptoms typically abate within 48 hours of a contaminated meal. The health district could receive additional reports, but active cases are unlikely, he said.

Richins advised people to contact the health district if they suspect they’ve been sickened by eating at any food outlet.

“That is how we find out about illnesses and initiate investigations,” he said.

Investigations are conducted outside of the health district’s routine inspection program. The health safety team regularly visits more than 1,000 establishments that sell or serve food to the public for compliance with regulations designed to prevent the spread of food-borne illness.

Inspectors conduct follow-up visits to establishments that fail their routine inspections. The Tri-City Herald regularly publishes results of those visits.

The health district investigated a norovirus outbreak linked to an infectious bartender and drinks at a popular Richland restaurant in February.

Routine inspection results are available at healthspace.com/Clients/Washington/Benton-Franklin/Web.nsf/home.xsp

This story was originally published July 2, 2019 at 3:00 PM.