Yankees stadium cooling tower tests positive for Legionella, no link to local cases

New York City health officials reported that Legionella bacteria were detected in one of the ten cooling towers at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. The department is conducting additional culture tests to determine whether the bacteria are viable, a prerequisite for causing Legionnaires' disease, a form of pneumonia.

Ten residents of the South Bronx have tested positive for the illness, including one fatality and three patients who remain hospitalized. Authorities have ordered the owners of all ten towers to clean and disinfect the systems by Monday, and the stadium tower was drained and cleaned on Sunday.

The Yankees said the tower was cleaned promptly and that the stadium’s new cooling towers, installed in 2024, are inspected weekly for water quality, with results reported to the city each month. The most recent city-reported test on Aug. 20 was negative for Legionella, using a different testing method than the one employed by the health department last week.

“No current cases have been associated with Yankee Stadium,” the team said. "Additionally, the New York City Department of Health has not at any point this month asked us to postpone our games."

Health officials advise anyone who lives, works, or has visited the Melrose or Morrisania neighborhoods since late August and who experiences flu-like symptoms to seek medical care. The city’s culture testing may take up to two weeks to confirm whether the bacteria are alive.

Legionnaires' disease, caused by inhaling contaminated water droplets from sources such as cooling towers, is treatable but has a mortality rate of about 10%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.