Three people are dead and five others were hospitalized after a Thanksgiving meal at an American Legion hall in Antioch, California.
The meal was prepared by a local church, according to a Contra Costa County Health Services spokeswoman, CBS San Francisco reported. However, it’s not yet certain it was the food that killed and sickened the diners.
All eight were taken to Sutter Delta Medical Center between Friday and Saturday. Of the five survivors, one remains hospitalized. All eight people were elderly and from the same care facility.
Autrey James, commander at American Legion Post 161, said Golden Hills Community Church prepared the Thanksgiving meals.
“We are extremely, extremely upset that anyone lost their lives,” James said. “We were not ourselves involved in the cooking of the meal.”
Health officials were still trying to determine if the food was the actual cause of death and illness, considering only eight out of 835 people who had the meal were severely affected.
“If it were a food borne outbreak, we’d expect to see a lot more people getting sick,” said Health Services spokeswoman Victoria Balladares, per CBS News.
During a news conference Monday evening, county health officials said an investigation is in the early stages, but told people not to worry about an outbreak since no outside family members have been impacted by the illnesses, NBC Bay Area noted.
“It was a nice dinner, turkey, stuffing, cranberries and coffee,” said Esidor Alviar, who was among the hundreds of people at the Thursday dinner and who also suffered some symptoms that evening. “About one o’clock in the morning, I had cramps and a terrible stomachache. I was sick. I thought about going to the hospital, but I hate hospitals.”
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