An update from Contra Costa Health Services Tuesday says that an additional 9 patients were likely sickened by food or drink from the same Thanksgiving Day event–none of the patients are currently hospitalized.
In total, 17-cases are being investigated where 3 people have died and 14-people became sick related to a foodborne illness outbreak reported in Antioch over the weekend.
According to the Tuesday Press Release, investigators are in the process of collecting biological samples from the reported cases for testing at county and state public health laboratories.
In total, a traditional Thanksgiving Day dinner was served to 835 people by Golden Hills Community Church and at the American Legion Hall in Antioch.
The County said Monday that the original 8 patients were from the same facility, however, news Tuesday shows patients are now from at least three separate facilities.
The County is also encouraging anyone who ate food from the Thanksgiving Day event at the Antioch American Legion auditorium, 403 West Sixth St., and is now feeling ill should immediately contact their medical provider.
5:12 pm Update – Tuesday evening Press Release 5:12 pm
(editors Note – bullet point format)
The following is comments taken during the Press Conference with the media.
- Louis McNitt, Contra Costa County Health Services
- Dr. Marilyn Underwood, Director of Environmental Health of County Health Services
McNitt’s Comments
- Currently have 17 people who began ill who attended this event and 1 is hospitalized (condition improving), 3 dead.
- This is likely a foodborne illness.
- All who were sick, have eaten food from the Thanksgiving Day Dinner and most became ill within 24-hours
- Encourage those with leftover food to throw it away.
- People are from multiple facilities
- Know so far, of people who are sick, got sick within 24-hours of consuming the food. At this point it’s a number of days after the event so don’t expect people to become ill unless they have left offers. Recommend leftovers be thrown away.
- Have not yet been able to trace the source—retail, on site, volunteers. Says it will be difficult to find the cause (food item)
- Do not have any samples of food at this time. All food at the event was donated or disposed after the event.
- Next Steps: interviewing people at the event/live at facilities, trying to get samples, going forward most important thing is food safety and washing hands—creating messages.
- Symptoms – nausea, diarrhea, vomiting
- Three people who died undergoing autopsy – police not involved at this time.
- More likely this came from foodborne illness. Single event links everyone together.
Dr. Underwood’s Comments
- Food was prepared at the facility, primary food at facility was mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, heated up creame corn and green beans—packages that were heated. Added water.
- Items brought in – Turkey’s at volunteers homes, hams, sweet potatoes.
- Pies purchased from local stores.
- Death ranges: Teens to 70’s
- Says patients came from at least 3 facilities
- Permit – Underwood says non-profits per state law can run this type of event for members and guests without a permit. Guests are not defined within State Law. In speaking with the folks who run this, that is something that will be permitted in the future.
Tuesday’s Press Release from the County 12:56 pm:
Eight cases of possible foodborne illness connected to the incident, including three that resulted in death, were reported to Public Health on Nov. 25 by Sutter Delta Medical Center in Antioch.
All of the eight patients reported by Sutter Delta ate food from the holiday event.
CCHS investigators on Tuesday contacted an additional eight people who were likely sickened by food or drink from the same event. None of those patients are currently hospitalized.
Investigators are in the process of collecting biological samples from the reported cases for testing at county and state public health laboratories.
Monday’s Update
8:00 pm Update – Press Conference with County Health Service
The press conference occurred at 5:00 pm Monday
- Louis McNitt, Communications Officer, County Health Services
- Dr. Marilyn Underwood, Director of Environmental Health of County Health Services
According to McNitt, right now, it’s unclear what the cause of illness may be and whether it is related to the November 24 event or not. We are working with our Environmental Health Division whether this is an outbreak of Food Borne Illness. Environmental Services followed up with the group that held this Thanksgiving Day event. 835 people attended on that day.
Sutter Delta reports receiving 8-patients that day related to this incident. All the patients are associated with the same living facility so it unclear if the illness is related to the Thanksgiving Day event or their living situation. We have not received any other reports from health care facilities related to this incident. At this point we do not believe there is any risk to the general public.
During the press conference, the name of the living facility was not provided.
According to Dr. Marilyn Underwood with Contra Costa Health Services, the non-profit group that held the event was the Golden Hills Community Church and have been sponsoring this for many years.
“I spoke with them regarding the type of event they had and it does not need to be permitted by our environmental health. They were using a permitted facility which is the Veterans Hall (American Legion),” said Underwood. “When we spoke with them regarding food safety techniques, they all sounded very appropriate.”
Underwood stated the meal served was a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner meal where 835 people were fed that day. So far 8 reported illness from same living facility.
“We don’t consider it a food borne illness unless we have people getting sick from different locations,” said Underwood. “If we have a family that all get sick from eating somewhere. We will not call that an outbreak unless we also have some else getting sick who doesn’t live with them. It could have been they got sick from food they prepared at their living facility and not at the Thanksgiving Day event… we are still investigating and will take some time to figure this out.”
Underwood also said at this point, they had no reason to conclude it was the food at the event.
McNitt stated the symptoms included nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. She also did not indicate what food borne illness was the cause and said it could be something 5-hours to a week and currently testing people who are ill to find the “cause” agent.
McNitt says that some people who live at the care facility and also attended the Thanksgiving Day event are alright health wise.
The county is also looking for people who did not self-report an illness while also interviewing those who were ill to try and find a common agent. They have also only received reports from Sutter Delta regarding the illness.
Underwood stated that some of the food was donated from food facilities and restaurants/retail markets, others are donated by volunteers. Most of the other items are prepared on site—mashed potatoes, stuffing, heat up green beans. She highlighted it’s a commercial grade facility.
“If there was something that shows we would need to shut down a facility, we would. We don’t feel like we need to do that,” said Underwood. “At this point the information we have did not lead us to the conclusion that we are concerned about the facility.”
She noted the information they have on the type of organism it might be, but said unfortunately she could not elaborate further.
“We know some things what it’s not,” said Underwood.
Underwood anticipates an investigation could take 7-to-10 days to complete or longer.
9:00 pm Update: Official Statement from Golden Hills Community Church
We recently were informed that several people from the same care facility in Antioch, who were at our Antioch Thanksgiving Dinner, became sick and it is reported that 3 of them have died. County Health officials have informed us that the source of the illness is not known and could have come from any of a number of sources. Our dinner in Antioch is only one of a number of possibilities that County Health is investigating. We are fully cooperating with health officials and are praying fervently for the families who lost loved ones and for others who are sick. We will try to post updates from County Health as we are made aware. Source
