The city released a set of over 30 addresses where cooling towers tested positive for the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease.
Although a positive test doesn’t signify if the building was the outbreak’s source, all listed were required to clean and disinfect their cooling towers.
Here’s what to know.
Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Manhattan
On Friday, city comptroller Mark Levine announced 31 addresses that tested positive for the bacteria in its cooling towers. One of the locations was the Guggenheim Museum.
People are at risk of getting Legionnaires’ disease if they breathe in water vapor contaminated with the bacteria.
By Monday night, cases appeared to be slowing down, Levine said, a possible indication that “the source of exposure has been eliminated.” All of the buildings had been directed to clean their cooling towers.
As of late July 13, there were 60 cases of Legionnaires’ in the community cluster. Out of those cases, 15 were hospitalized, 34 were discharged, and 11 were not hospitalized. No one had died from the current cluster.
Why did NYC release addresses of positive cooling towers?
The city health department said that the mayor’s office ordered the release of addresses in an effort for transparency, a move that had not been done before.
The agency also ordered all of the buildings to immediately clean and disinfect the positive towers, saying that it was “a more aggressive strategy than requiring a boost of chemical disinfectant levels while awaiting a culture testing confirms the presence of live Legionella bacteria, a process that takes two weeks, to conduct a full cleaning.”
What should locals do now?
Residents and those who have visited the area should still keep an eye out for flu-like symptoms due to a delay between infection and sickness.
Some of the symptoms include:
headaches and muscle aches
coughing and shortness of breath
Officials have emphasized that residents can still do everyday activities with their water supply, like drink tap water, shower, cook and use AC units at home.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Here’s where NYC found Legionnaires’ in water towers