Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani and the New York City Health Department today announced additional emergency measures to respond to the Legionnaires' Disease community cluster on the Upper East Side that has sickened at least 23 people as of July 6.
After identifying just two cases that suggested a possible community source on Thursday, July 2, Mayor Mamdani directed the Department of Health to immediately begin testing cooling towers across the affected area and launch community outreach ahead of the holiday weekend. The Department mobilized more than 100 staff members to carry out the investigation.
As part of this response, the Administration will take an unprecedented step of publicly releasing the addresses of all buildings whose cooling towers test positive for Legionella bacteria during the initial PCR screening process. Buildings with positive initial tests are also being ordered to immediately drain, clean and disinfect their cooling towers to reduce the risk of further exposure.
