New York City health officials will take questions from South Bronx residents Tuesday evening as they continue their investigation into the city’s second outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease.
The outbreak in the Bronx has so far killed one person. The city health department began its response on Sept. 10 by testing cooling towers for Legionella bacteria and ordering building owners to clean and disinfect their equipment. Health officials have also canvassed the neighborhood and distributed flyers.
An outbreak that was first identified in July on the Upper East Side killed 11 people. Another outbreak last summer in Harlem killed seven.
Legionnaires’ outbreaks aren’t new for the South Bronx. It was the epicenter of the city’s deadliest outbreak on record in 2015 when 138 people fell ill and 16 individuals died. The crisis resulted in the passage of New York City’s cooling tower regulations, which are often touted as some of the strongest in the world.
But over a decade later, outbreaks are becoming a regular occurrence in the city.
Ariadna Phillips, an educator and founder of South Bronx Mutual Aid, said the latest outbreak only adds to her concerns about the Bronx being disproportionately affected by chronic illnesses, including asthma.
“It’s both deeply concerning, and it feels like more of the same,” she said. “We already have a number of public health crises that affect us in the South Bronx.”
J. David Krause, a toxicologist and water systems expert based in Florida, said the multiple outbreaks in the city this summer are consistent with national trends: there are more cases of Legionnaires' disease each year due to climate change and an aging and more susceptible population
“The problem has gotten worse and worse since 2002,” he said. “We had around 1,100 cases per year. Now we’re well over 10,000.”
What do we know about the current outbreak?
Two ZIP codes in the South Bronx – 10451 and 10456 – are affected by the current outbreak, according to New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The agency advised anyone who lives or has visited the area since late August and is experiencing flu-like symptoms to seek medical attention immediately.
As of Sunday, 10 people have tested positive for Legionnaires’ disease in connection with the Bronx outbreak. A total of eight people have been hospitalized. Five have been discharged. One person has died.
What do we know about the cooling towers in the affected ZIP codes?
Cooling towers sit on top of large buildings and serve air conditioning systems by blowing out warm water as vapor. Contaminated cooling-tower systems can spread Legionella bacteria through that vapor.
Over the weekend, the city identified 10 buildings where cooling towers tested positive on a rapid, PCR test for Legionella bacteria. But these tests detect both living and dead bacteria and are used to identify cooling towers for additional culture testing, which can take up to two weeks to produce results. In the meantime, the city ordered the building owners to clean and disinfect their towers by Monday, Sept. 14.
Building owners are required to test their towers for Legionella bacteria once a month. Chantal Gomez, a spokesperson for the health department, said 74% of buildings in the two affected ZIP codes were compliant with the testing requirement as of Friday, lower than the 82% compliance rate for all cooling towers citywide.
The city health department also tries to inspect every cooling tower annually, though inspection rates have lagged far behind what they were when the regulations were first implemented citywide. But as of August, Gomez said 90% of cooling towers in the two South Bronx ZIP codes have received their annual inspection.
How has the city responded to this outbreak?
Gomez said that 20 Health Department staff members conducted outreach in the community and distributed over 800 flyers.
The agency will begin its town hall meeting on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Metropolitan College of New York campus in the South Bronx. Registration is not required.
