Legionnaires' outbreak hits New York as officials rush to test water towers

BBC ^ | July 10, 2026 | Madeline Halpert

[E. Pluribus Unum]

For the past few days, Justine Kirby has been sporting an N95 mask every time she leaves her house to walk in her quiet Upper East Side neighbourhood.

She is keeping her apartment windows closed, too, as an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease grows to 46 cases, which the city has linked to contaminated water cooling towers.

The cluster of Legionnaires' infections - a serious type of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria - has raised alarms among residents in the community, who packed a town hall in an Upper East side church this week to pose a series of questions to New York City's health department.

"There is quite a level of concern in the community," Kirby said. "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."

As of Wednesday evening, 22 people who were sick had gone to the hospital, some of whom were in the intensive care unit, health officials have said.

Legionnaires' is caused by bacteria that grow in warm water, leading to flu-like symptoms that can sometimes be fatal without treatment and for those who are immunocompromised.

The current outbreak is caused by cooling towers from larger buildings where Legionella bacteria live and multiply, infecting people when they breath in the bacteria from the mist of the towers, said Dr Wafaa El-Sadr, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

This week, the city announced its "aggressive" plan to tackle the outbreak, saying it would work to test all the water coolers in the area. The department and the New York City Mayor's Office did not respond to a question from the BBC about whether it had finished testing...

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TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: democratincompetence

[blackdog]

Cooling tower water requires a lot of maintenance to control the biologicals, ph, hardness, and biocides additions. If you don’t hire trained and experienced personnel to maintain the systems, you will suffer bigly. It’s very hard to get executive management to understand this. It helps to get the local health department, state agencies, and your insurance carrier on your side. If they don’t maintain the systems properly, pull their operating permits. Same thing with boiler systems. Those are on “Night Fire” all summer. They still must be maintained.

[Vermont Lt]

Closing everything up, and running the AC does not sound like a good plan if you wish to avoid Legionnaire’s.

Living in a big city in the summer just seems too much like a Petri dish.

[Repeat Offender]

f you don’t hire trained and experienced personnel to maintain the systems, you will suffer bigly.

Nonsense. There you go furthering the patriarchy.......

What they really need is an indigenous transfurry of color with an Art History degree and a couple of social workers.

[blackdog]

I've seen the slime buildup (the coating bacteria and algae coat themselves with to fight hostile environments) choke off six inch flow valves. It's like rubbery concrete.

That's the reason every 25 year old public building like schools, prisons, government centers, etc....are always saying they need new buildings, yet the 200 year old university building or museum is just fine. They know what is required to keep systems in good working order.

Just for giggles, try taking the Class A Boiler Operator Licensing test. It's the hardest test to pass I've ever tackled. It covers cooling systems, too. Large companies don't understand how things that can kill you work. They think you just push buttons.

[Kudsman]

Call an organizer.

[Texas Eagle]

Enjoy the warm suck of Collectivism, New Yawkers.

[Kudsman]

Don’t worry. Mamdani has a committee forming as we type!

[Dan Zachary]

sporting an N95 mask every time she leaves her house to walk in her quiet Upper East Side neighbourhood. She is keeping her apartment windows closed,

She is avoiding a water born disease by avoiding fresh air? What a moron/democrat.

[Jane Long]

Hee hee ... or, a social worker.