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Sixth person dies in Upper East Side Legionnaires’ disease outbreak - Gothamist
Entertainment and CultureBy https://gothamist.com/staff/caroline-lewis7/29/20261 min read
The city health department says 90 people have been sickened in the outbreak and six remain hospitalized.
✨ Key Highlights
- A sixth person has died in the Upper East Side Legionnaires' disease outbreak, which has sickened 90 people since it was first identified in early July, the city health department reported.
- City health commissioner Dr. Alister Martin announced the death Tuesday evening on X, extending condolences to the victim's loved ones.
- More than 70 people were hospitalized during the outbreak, with six still in the hospital, though officials say no new cases have been diagnosed since July 17 and no new symptoms reported in over two weeks.
- Health officials believe the source of exposure has been eliminated and have linked the outbreak to a water-cooling tower contaminated with Legionella bacteria, which causes the severe pneumonia when inhaled.
- The department has tested cooling towers across three ZIP codes between Central Park and the East River — 10028, 10128 and 10075 — identifying 56 buildings whose towers tested positive for live Legionella, with additional buildings positive in rapid PCR tests; all have been ordered to drain, clean and disinfect their towers.
- This marks Manhattan's second deadly Legionnaires' outbreak in two years despite city laws requiring cooling tower maintenance, following a Harlem outbreak last year that killed seven people, and further testing is still needed to pinpoint the responsible tower.
A sixth person has died in the Upper East Side Legionnaires outbreak, which has sickened 90 people since it was first identified in early July, according to the city health department.
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