City health officials on Friday announced they have identified 31 buildings on Manhattan’s Upper East Side with cooling towers that tested positive for Legionella bacteria — even as the number of people who have contracted the potentially lethal Legionnaires’ disease doubled within just one day.
As of July 9, the number of confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ disease in the Upper East Side cluster was 46, with 22 of those people hospitalized, according to the latest figures from the city’s Department of Health. The day before, according to DOH, there had been only 23 people who tested positive, with 17 of those hospitalized. There have been no deaths.
According to the city, the affected buildings include the Guggenheim Museum at 1071 Fifth Ave., the Trevor Day School at 312 E. 95th St., and 1110 Fifth Ave., a luxury apartment building overlooking Central Park that was designed by renowned architect James Edwin Ruthven Carpenter Jr.
Of the buildings that tested positive, 19, including the Guggenheim, have already cleaned and disinfected their cooling towers, while the remaining 12 properties are expected to complete remediation efforts by Saturday, Department of Health officials said.
A student living at Rockefeller University housing at 238 E. 81st St., where a cooling tower tested positive and which requires remediation, said he’s concerned for elderly residents living in affected buildings.
“I’m only 28, maybe I’m jaded by COVID. There are a lot of older people who should be more concerned than I am,” said the student, a postdoctoral neuroscientist.
“I assume most of the buildings on the Upper East Side are not up to par,” he added. “The landlords don’t live here. Private equity owns a lot of the buildings.”
Just because a building received a positive test does not necessarily mean it was a source of the outbreak, DOH added, noting that further testing will be done to determine whether the bacteria cultures collected in each case were alive or dead. That will take another two weeks.
Health officials publicly identified the infected buildings just two days after City Council Speaker Julie Menin sent a letter to city Health Commissioner Dr. Alister Martin demanding that all buildings with cooling towers within the affected area be required to conduct a proactive cleanup to prevent the potentially deadly bacteria’s spread.
“I am deeply concerned that the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene has still failed to require building owners to proactively disinfect all cooling towers in the area under investigation,” Menin’s letter reads.
The affected buildings include the Guggenheim Museum at 1071 Fifth Ave. in Manhattan. (Barry Williams / New York Daily News)
The affected buildings were among 180 properties with cooling towers screened as part of an ongoing investigation into a Legionnaires’ cluster, which began after the Health Department identified two confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ disease in the area on July 2.
The outbreak is centered in the Carnegie Hill and Yorkville neighborhoods, spanning from E. 74th to E. 96th Sts., affecting the Upper East Side’s 10028, 10128 and 10075 zip codes, DOH officials said.
Legionnaires’ disease is a form of pneumonia caused by the Legionella bacteria. Most people exposed don’t become sick and the disease is spread through the inhalation of water vapor, though is not spread from person to person. Symptoms typically develop two to 14 days after exposure and include fever, chills, muscle aches, shortness of breath and coughing.
According to DOH, “It remains safe to shower, drink tap water and use air conditioners in the affected zip codes.”
The disease is fatal in about 10 percent of cases and is most dangerous for those above age 50 or with compromised immune systems or chronic lung diseases.
Here is a full list of the buildings that tested positive for Legionella bacteria.
Full Remediation Complete:
180 East End Ave.1750 York Ave.1660 Second Ave1438 Third Ave.1511 Third Ave.1551 Third Ave.1071 Fifth Ave.1080 Fifth Ave.1001 Fifth Ave.240 E. 82nd St.8 E. 83rd St.145 E. 84th St.117 E. 85th St.125 E. 87th St.152 E. 87th St.120 E. 87th St.501 E. 87th St.168 E. 88th St.160 E. 88th St.
Cleaning Pending — Ordered to remediate by July 11:
1875 Second Ave.1110 Fifth Ave.153 E. 78th St.135 E. 79th St.300 E. 79th St.238 E. 81st St.160 E. 84th St.114 E. 85th St.401 E. 88th St.333 E. 91st St.354 E. 91st St.312 E. 95th St.