Results from water tests at the county jail and Little Oaks Child Development Center show no signs of a bacteria that can cause a pneumonia-like illness.<\/p>\n
But two fixtures at the sheriff\u2019s administration building continue to show low levels of legionella. Tests at the sheriff\u2019s offices started in November, after a custodian contracted Legionnaire\u2019s disease while working there. Initial tests in that building found about half the fixtures had evidence of the bacteria. County officials have not disclosed the custodians current health, citing federal privacy rules.<\/p>\n
The county has spent more than $600,000 since the bacteria was found to correct areas where it has been found or prevent future issues. In addition to flushing and sanitizing plumbing systems the county paid $563,000 for 2,244 0.2-micron filters. More than 600 filters were provided to sites where legionella has been detected: the sheriff\u2019s office, Circuit Court tower, North Oakland Health Center and the resource and crisis center. Any unused filters will be returned, according to a county spokesman. Three filters that were installed failed and had to be replaced.<\/p>\n
Legionella is a naturally occurring bacteria in the ground and indoor plumbing and other systems that use water such as air-conditioners, humidifiers, fountains or hot tubs that can cause Legionnaire\u2019s disease, a type of pneumonia, or milder upper-respiratory infection called Pontiac fever. Pontiac fever is so named because it was identified in 1968 by city health officials in Pontiac.<\/p>\n
The county has also repeated tests of some fixtures in the county\u2019s Circuit courthouse at 1200 N. Telegraph, which also has offices for administrators, prosecuting attorney, treasurer, county clerk and register of deeds and others, as well as a cafeteria.<\/p>\n
A man diagnosed with Legionnaire\u2019s disease in April who later died listed the courthouse as one of the places he\u2019d visited.<\/p>\n
The most-recent follow-up tests of courthouse fixtures found no signs of legionella.<\/p>\n
County Executive Dave Coulter called the latest results highly encouraging, adding that they \u201cconfirm that our proactive remediation and expanded testing efforts are working to keep our campus safe for employees and the public.<\/p>\n
The county also spent $31,425 for investigative and routine testing and just over $10,000 on faucets, adapters and masks.<\/p>\n
The Jan. 27 tests included:<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 23 samples from the Courthouse Tower<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 12 samples from the sheriff\u2019s administration building<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 12 samples from the jail<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 5 samples from Little Oaks<\/p>\n
Tests scheduled for Feb. 5 include the:<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 County Animal Shelter and Pet Adoption Center<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 North Office Building<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 West Wing Extension of the Oakland County Circuit Court complex, (offices for prosecutors; court administrator; corporation counsel, indigent defense and elections division.<\/p>\n
Results are expected in about two weeks.<\/p>\n
Sites where legionella has been detected will continue to be retested through at least May. The county has not yet completed a routine water management plan that meets state and federal water-safety standards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Results from water tests at the county jail and Little Oaks Child Development Center show no signs of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109960,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[47285,47284,143,904,145,144,79855,59014,79856],"class_list":{"0":"post-165436","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-legionella","9":"tag-legionnaires-disease","10":"tag-oakland","11":"tag-oakland-county","12":"tag-oakland-headlines","13":"tag-oakland-news","14":"tag-oakland-press","15":"tag-pontiac-fever","16":"tag-sheriffs-office-legionnaires"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}