Overview
- Health Commissioner Dr. Alister Martin confirmed late Thursday that a second person has died and that at least 13 to 14 cases have been linked to the cluster in ZIP codes 10451 and 10456.
- Preliminary PCR screening found Legionella DNA in 10 of about 24 tested cooling towers, including units at Yankee Stadium and Lincoln Hospital, and owners were ordered to remediate those towers.
- Officials say all towers flagged in the initial screening have been disinfected but culture-based testing is underway and can take up to two weeks to show whether live bacteria were present and tied to patients.
- The Health Department has held a town hall, conducted door-to-door outreach, distributed pamphlets and issued clinical alerts urging anyone with flu-like symptoms who lived in, worked in, or visited the area to seek care immediately.
- The cluster follows a larger Upper East Side outbreak this summer that sickened dozens and killed 11 people, prompting renewed scrutiny of cooling-tower inspections, owner testing practices and enforcement in the city.