Public not warned about E. coli outbreak to avoid overreaction

From today's NY Times:

At least 39 people in central New Jersey and on Long Island were infected, two of them critically, with E. coli bacteria in an outbreak of food poisoning last month that has been traced to the Taco Bell restaurant chain, health officials in New York and New Jersey said yesterday.

It was the nation’s most serious outbreak of E. coli toxins since mid-September, when the same strain of the bacteria, linked to packages of contaminated spinach grown in California, killed three people and infected more than 200 in 26 states.

... Some health officials acknowledged that an announcement of the contamination had been delayed in New Jersey for several days, in part over concerns for possible overreaction by the public. Some critics questioned the delay.

What I want to know is what kind of "overreaction" they expected. Perhaps people would avoid going to Taco Bell. Isn't that what you would want them to do if you thought that the places were contaminated? No, instead, we'll wait several days to warn the public, once the threat is gone. This sounds like a typical Bush administration knee-jerk reaction to protect a business at the expense of the public. Now, however, a bunch of Taco Bells are closed anyway, so what good did it do for Taco Bell? Nothing, as far as I can see.

[Full disclosure: I own some shares in Taco Bell's parent company].