Legionella Outbreak Update on Upper East Side
New York City’s Health Department has pinpointed 56 buildings on the Upper East Side where active Legionella bacteria were found in cooling towers, preceding an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease that has claimed five lives so far. This discovery comes from a thorough round of testing that puts health officials closer to figuring out the outbreak’s source.
To aid their investigation, the health department gathered samples from all cooling towers in the three affected ZIP codes. These towers, part of the air conditioning systems, can pose a serious risk if not maintained properly. The samples were sent to laboratories for examination.
Unlike the initial rapid PCR tests released earlier this month, which showed traces of both live and dead bacteria in 76 buildings, these culture tests take several weeks for results and offer a more precise analysis.
Chantal Gomez, a spokesperson for the health department, mentioned, “We are narrowing it down.” The live bacteria found will be analyzed further and compared with samples from patients. This step is crucial for definitively identifying the outbreak’s origins.
As of Monday, 89 individuals have fallen ill from this outbreak.
Gomez indicated that the outbreak’s source seems to have been addressed. “Building owners drained their cooling towers after the PCR tests, and we haven’t seen any new diagnoses,” she noted.
Current regulations require building owners to conduct culture tests every 31 days, while the health department aims to inspect every cooling tower annually. However, compliance with these testing requirements has been inconsistent, and health officials have faced challenges in meeting inspection quotas due to staffing shortages.
A prior analysis by Gothamist revealed that inspections were at a record low ahead of a Harlem outbreak last summer. Although there have been slight improvements recently, inspection numbers before this year’s Upper East Side outbreak showed many lagging behind.
According to recent data, only 56% of cooling towers were inspected in the past year as of June 17, with 82% submitting Legionella test results by July 24. Among the 56 towers that tested positive, only 52% had been inspected, and 86% had submitted results.
Gomez clarified that a positive culture test doesn’t necessarily indicate negligence on the part of building owners. The bacteria can develop in the week or two following a routine test, she explained.
The health department is still waiting for culture test results from 12 buildings. Gomez mentioned that testing was limited by capacity and some delays occurred after the outbreak hit. The labs processing these tests are also restricted in their abilities.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin has criticized the administration for lacking transparency in managing the outbreak, urging the health department to disinfect all cooling towers in the impacted areas.
