WARWICK, R.I. -- Around two dozen people were reportedly sickened last month after eating at a Warwick restaurant suspected of being the site of a norovirus outbreak, the state Department of Health said Friday.
Diners at Sam's Inn, at 2227 West Shore Rd., first reported becoming ill on Jan. 17 and those reports continued until Jan. 23, DOH spokesman Joseph Wendelken said Friday. In total, around 25 people in 10 different groups who had eaten at the restaurant reported symptoms.
Sam's Inn worked with Department of Health staff to disinfect the establishment and it has remained open, Wendelken said. He said no one had been hospitalized.
A post on the restaurant's Facebook page Thursday apologized to customers and said "human contact" on the week of Jan. 20th had contaminated the salad bar with norovirus. It said the restaurant was "not aware of any issues until Wednesday, January 24th when we received several phone calls and messages from our customers."
"This is also the same day the health department came to inspect our facility," the post by Sam Khouri said. "While a number of health violations were found, we corrected all of them immediately, and continue to work with the health department to ensure the safety and sanitation of our restaurant. Had the health department determined we needed to close to address these issues we certainly would have."
Khouri added that Sam's Inn had hired a safety expert to consult, inspect and work with staff.
"We do understand that people are upset that they got sick. We are truly devastated that something like this could happen at Sam’s Inn," Khouri wrote. "We have spent years of tireless commitment and hard work building our business, establishing trust and respect within our community. We absolutely do not take that for granted and we’ll redouble our efforts to ensure that trust is well placed."
Wendelken described norovirus as a highly contagious infection often spread in confined spaces such as cruise ships that is rarely fatal but produces sudden bouts of diarrhea and vomiting.
In 2016 Wright's Farm Restaurant in Burrilville was closed for 10 days after a norovirus outbreak.