Key Takeaway:
- New York City will publicly disclose buildings with Legionella-positive cooling towers as officials investigate an Upper East Side outbreak that has sickened 23 people and hospitalized 17.
- Health officials have tested most cooling towers in the affected area and are ordering immediate cleaning and disinfection of any systems that test positive.
- Residents are urged to watch for Legionnaires’ disease symptoms and seek prompt medical care, while officials continue testing to identify the outbreak’s source.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani pledged Tuesday to publicly identify buildings with Legionella-positive cooling towers as health officials investigate the Legionnaires disease outbreak on Manhattan’s Upper East Side that has affected 23 people and hospitalized 17.
Mayor promises transparency during outbreak
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the city will release the addresses of all buildings whose water-cooling towers test positive for Legionella bacteria as officials work to identify the source of the Legionnaires disease outbreak on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
“When there’s a public health threat, New Yorkers deserve urgency and transparency from their government,” Mamdani said Tuesday before a community town hall attended by more than 100 residents.
According to the New York City Health Department, the Legionnaires disease outbreak has affected 23 people, with 17 requiring hospitalization. No deaths have been reported.
The confirmed cases involve people who live in or recently visited ZIP codes 10028, 10128, and 10075, covering much of the Upper East Side between the East River and Central Park.
Health officials test cooling towers
City health officials believe the outbreak is likely linked to a cooling tower releasing mist contaminated with Legionella bacteria, which can cause a severe form of pneumonia when inhaled.
Water ecologists have tested 139 of the area’s 160 cooling towers since inspections began Thursday. Dr. Alister Martin, the city’s health commissioner, said officials will disclose all addresses where initial tests detect the bacteria once the first round of sampling is complete.
Building owners whose cooling towers test positive are being ordered to clean and disinfect their systems. Officials said they will verify that remediation is completed.
Asked what would happen if an owner refused to comply, Corinne Schiff, the Health Department’s deputy commissioner for environmental health, said, “We’ve never had that happen. They always comply.”
Martin added, “This is a matter of life and death.”
Martin cautioned that initial PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) tests may identify dead bacteria as well as live organisms. Culture testing, which takes about two weeks, is needed to confirm active bacteria, while whole-genome sequencing could take longer to determine whether bacteria found in cooling towers match strains infecting patients.
Residents urged to watch for symptoms
Health officials advised anyone who lives in or visited the affected neighborhoods since late June to monitor for symptoms, including fever, cough, breathing difficulty, fatigue, body aches, and gastrointestinal illness.
Officials urged residents experiencing symptoms to contact their physician or seek care through the city’s public health system if they do not have a primary care doctor.
Some residents at the town hall questioned whether the city should establish dedicated testing sites. Others expressed concern that there were few immediate steps they could take to reduce their risk.
Martin said masks are not expected to protect against Legionnaires’ disease because the illness is associated with contaminated water droplets rather than person-to-person transmission. He also said residents of buildings with cooling towers are not necessarily at greater risk because contaminated mist can travel through the air.
The outbreak follows criticism of the city’s response to a Central Harlem Legionnaires’ disease cluster last year, when officials faced scrutiny over delays in identifying contaminated cooling towers. That outbreak resulted in seven deaths.
Residents said they hope the city’s promise of greater transparency will help contain the Legionnaires disease outbreak and provide clearer public health information as the investigation continues.
