Va. Hotel Reopens After Virus Outbreak

A Crystal City hotel reopened for business this afternoon, five days after officials determined that as many as 150 guests were sickened by the highly contagious norovirus and closed the facility to new customers.

A company specializing in catastrophic cleanups began work at The Hyatt Regency Crystal City on Thursday after hotel guests traveling with two large tour groups reported that they had become ill and a preliminary investigation was conducted by Arlington County health officials.

That afternoon the hotel staff began informing patrons about the virus and set about relocating approximately 250 healthy guests to nearby hotels. At the time only four guests staying in the 685-room conference hotel were found to be sick from a gastrointestinal illness. They checked out on Saturday, county official said.

The hotel cleanup was far-reaching, according to Hyatt staff, who said bed and restaurant linens were laundered, walls were hand-scrubbed and the entire hotel was fumigated at a cost of more than $250,000. The hotel lost several thousands of dollars because of the facility's closure.

"We want our guests and employees to be safe and we'll do whatever it takes to get to that goal," said hotel General manager Jean-Marc Dizard. "We're relieved knowing that our facility is sanitized."

This afternoon, Arlington Public Health concluded its inspections of the Hyatt and cleared it to reopen.

The norovirus has been responsible for a number of recent large-scale gastrointestinal outbreaks, some in the Washington area.

In December, the virus hit scores of students at Catholic University. In January, the Hilton Washington Dulles Airport hotel closed temporarily after about 120 employees and guests were sickened by the virus, which officials say is proving to be severe this year.

Norovirus is almost always passed through vomit or feces, and it has an incubation period of usually a day or more. Three-quarters of people report vomiting and diarrhea, and one-third have a fever. Symptoms usually last about five days.