"The reported symptoms are consistent with norovirus", Marsden said.
The suspected illnesses were first reported by Business Insider earlier on Tuesday.
The Denver-based company notes that norovirus does not come from its food supply and it is safe to eat at its restaurants.
Chipotle closed the store, located on Tripleseven Road in Sterling, Va., about 20 miles west of Washington, D.C., on Monday to conduct "complete sanitization", and plans to reopen it later today.
The Loudon County Health Department said the restaurant has been in full cooperation with them.
"We are working with health authorities to understand what the cause may be and to resolve the situation as quickly as possible".
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Because the restaurant voluntarily closed Monday, the health department said they can not keep the restaurant from re-opening unless they find a health hazard in the restaurant.
This incident may be a one-off event that would probably be less consequential for any other chain, but Chipotle is still recovering from the food safety disaster that rocked the company in 2015. The list of complaints has a clear theme - episodes marked by customers "vomiting violently", "puking [their] brains out", experiencing "violent stomach cramps", becoming "violently sick", or just getting "violently ill ..."
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. suffered its worst stock decline in seven months after a suspected norovirus outbreak at one of its restaurants threatened to renew the company's food-safety crisis.
Chipotle shares plummeted 5 percent after news of the chain's latest foodborne illness crisis broke, CNBC reported.
Despite its efforts to improve its safety procedures, Chipotle has also said it may still be at higher risk for food-borne illnesses than some competitors because of its greater use of fresh produce and meats.
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