There’s a Chuck E. Cheese that I drive by with Sam a couple of times a week. Every time we go by he wants to go back: we took him there on his third birthday (on a weekday afternoon) and he went nuts for Skee-Ball and the arcade games.
Running food safety and infection control at a kids arcade-style restaurant is probably nerve-wracking. According to KAAL ABC Chanel 6, a norovirus outbreak is being investigated at a Minnesota Chuck E. Cheese outlet.
The Washington County Public Health Department is investigating a norovirus outbreak at a Woodbury Chuck E. Cheese restaurant that sickened at least 30 last weekend.
The restaurant was scheduled to be closed until 1 p.m. Wednesday while staff cleaned, said Fred Anderson, an epidemiologist for Washington County Public Health. The restaurant was open until 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Washington County is still trying to determine how the norovirus got started. Several patrons reported getting sick Saturday. Public Health has interviewed about 60 people and half have reported getting sick.
Washington County Public Health reviewed the reservations made for Friday, Saturday and Sunday and determined about 1,000 people were in the restaurant during that time, Anderson said.
A decent recipe for an outbreak is a bunch of kids, with questionable hygiene, in a place with a lot of stuff to touch, and eat, at the height of norovirus season.