NAACP banquet attendees fall ill in California
San Mateo County health officials are trying to determine what caused more than 50 people attending an NAACP gala to fall ill.
George Holland heads the civil rights organization’s Oakland chapter and was among several hundred people at the weekend event at the Sofitel San Francisco Bay Hotel in Redwood City. He tells the Oakland Tribune by the end of the night, attendees were throwing up in the hotel lobby.
Officials say 12 people were taken by ambulance to hospitals to be treated for dehydration.
Robyn Thaw, a spokeswoman for the San Mateo Medical Center, tells the Tribune an initial investigation by county officials found no violations linked to foodborne illnesses at the hotel.
Officials are now interviewing those who became ill and reviewing their lab work to try to determine the source.
