New York City said it identified a Legionella bacteria outbreak early and tested all cooling towers in the affected area. By Wednesday evening, the outbreak had grown to 46 cases, and 22 people had gone to hospital.
The city said 31 cooling towers tested positive for the bacteria. Nineteen of those towers had already been disinfected, and the rest were expected to be cleaned by Saturday.
Alister Martin on 160 towers
Alister Martin said the city was moving quickly across 160 cooling towers in the area. “What we have in front of us is 160 cooling towers across this region that we are looking at, and we are not waiting,” he said at a town hall on the Upper East Side church this week.
The city also told people to monitor for symptoms and seek medical care, including testing, if they felt sick. Legionnaires' disease is a serious type of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria, and the source says the bacteria can grow in warm water and spread when people breathe mist from cooling towers.
Justine Kirby on the Upper East Side
Justine Kirby said she wore an N95 mask every time she left her house to walk in her Upper East Side neighborhood, and kept her apartment windows closed. “I'm the sort of person who likes to say that the risk may be small, but until the [cleaning and disinfecting] is done, I don't see much downside in taking these extra measures,” she said at the town hall.
The town hall drew residents who wanted questions answered by New York City's health department. A report linked to The Ardsley Tests Positive for Legionella Bacteria at 320 Central Park West is available here.
Julie Menin to Alister Martin
Julie Menin wrote to Alister Martin that she was “deeply concerned that the Department of Mental Health and Hygiene has still failed to require building owners to proactively disinfect all cooling towers in the area under investigation.”
The city said buildings must fully clean and disinfect their cooling towers after one positive test result instead of waiting for more testing, a change that puts the cleaning deadline on the remaining buildings by Saturday. For residents of the Upper East Side, the immediate practical step is to watch for symptoms and get medical care fast if they appear.
