A total of 248 cases have been identified as of Wednesday.
According to DHHS, of the 248 cases:
55 percent are male
41 percent are between the ages of 20 and 49
20 percent have visited their provider
13 percent have visited the emergency department
6 percent have been hospitalized
1 death has been identified
Since the outbreak, six people have filed lawsuits against the restaurant.
Tarheel Q, located on Highway 64 West in Davidson County, re-opened Wednesday morning.
Tarheel Q located on Highway 64 West in Lexington re-opened Wednesday morning.
A sign posted on the door last week said the owners planned to work on sanitation.
I’m sure that’s a relief to the at least a dozen people who have been hospitalized.
Health officials now say 216 people have reported becoming ill after eating at Tarheel Q in Lexington, which was linked last week to a Salmonella outbreak.
Seven lawsuits have been filed against the barbecue restaurant, according to the Davidson County Clerk of Court’s office.
Tarheel Q voluntarily closed last week and said it would reopen Sunday, after customers who had eaten there got sick with symptoms consistent with Salmonella infection, most between June 16 and June 21. The restaurant, on U.S. 64, was still closed Monday morning.
Calls to the restaurant were not answered Monday.
A barbecue sample and a sample from a patient both tested positive for Salmonella, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.
According to a health inspections website linked to the county health department site, Tarheel Q was last inspected June 3 and received a score of 98, an A grade.
The Tarheel Q must be a really popular restaurant to sicken at least 197 customers.
According to North Carolina health types:
At least 127 people have been sickened and at least 7 hospitalized in an outbreak of Salmonella that officials believe may be linked to a Lexington barbecue restaurant, officials with the N.C. Division of Public Health said Thursday
Salmonella has been identified as a cause in at least 15 cases. All 127 people ate at Tarheel Q on U.S. 64 West in Lexington, in the days before falling ill, officials said.
Benjamin Powell (no relation to me or Chapman but a decent hybrid) reported for WFMY News 2
that the owner of the restaurant posted a sign on the door Wednesday that reads “We are voluntarily closed to regain our customers’ trust.”
17-year-old Parker Allred is one of the nearly 100 people poisoned with Salmonella after eating at Tarheel Q in Lexington last Wednesday. Making matters worse, Parker was on a mission trip to Pennsylvania — building houses for people in need — when he got sick.
“Knowing that you were seven hours away from your own home, that’s the part that was kind of hard,” said Allred. “Because you know that somehow or another you are going to have to drive that seven hours back whether you are feeling good or not.”
Despite his pain and suffering, Parker said Tarheel Q is still one of his favorite restaurants.
“I’ve always liked it and I’ve never had a problem with it,” said Allred.
The Davidson County Health Department and Davie County Health Department are working with the N.C. Division of Public Health to investigate a gastrointestinal illness outbreak among patrons of a local restaurant.
As of Tuesday, the health departments said they have identified over 30 individuals with signs and symptoms consistent with salmonellosis.
The health departments said all people with symptoms ate at Tarheel Q, located at 6835 West U.S. 64, Lexington, several days before becoming ill.
At least seven of the individuals had to be hospitalized due to their illness, the health departments said.