In mid-August, California health types said they expect to “have a probable origin by the end of the month” for an E. coli O157 outbreak that sickened at least four people in North County.

It’s past the end of the month.

While the identities of the sick have not been released other than to say they’re not all children, The Tribune learned independently that one of the people hospitalized was a 12-year-old girl from the Creston 4-H Club who showed a dairy goat during the California Mid-State Fair.

The health department declined to disclose whether the fair is being investigated as a possible point of origin.