NYC health officials identify dozens of Upper East Side buildings with Legionella bacteria amid outbreak
Testing has found Legionella bacteria in multiple cooling towers on Manhattan's Upper East Side, prompting city officials to order remediation and prepare to publish a list of affected sites.
New York City health officials have detected Legionella bacteria in dozens of cooling towers on the Upper East Side, a finding that may be linked to the ongoing Legionnaires' disease outbreak that has resulted in 46 reported cases and 22 hospitalizations. Testing, which began on July 2 after the outbreak was identified in three zip codes, initially returned a positive PCR result at a commercial building on East 85th Street, though officials said it was unclear whether the bacteria were active or merely environmental contaminants.
The Department of Health has ordered the owners of affected buildings, including a tower at 1511 Third Avenue, to drain, clean and disinfect the cooling systems and to implement mandatory monthly testing. City officials said a list of the “cooling towers of interest” will be released in the coming days, a step Mayor Zohran Mamdani described as part of a transparency effort.
Local residents expressed concern about the proximity of the contaminated towers. Councilmember Julie Menin questioned the pace of the response, asking whether officials would wait for additional illnesses before taking further action. Health experts noted that Legionella spreads through mist and water droplets emitted from cooling towers, not through indoor air.
The city’s testing effort is nearing completion, and officials plan to make the addresses of the implicated sites public shortly.