{"id":303332,"date":"2026-07-22T22:44:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T22:44:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/303332\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T22:44:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T22:44:22","slug":"mamdani-hits-back-at-menins-charge-of-mishandling-legionnaires-outbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/303332\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani hits back at Menin\u2019s charge of mishandling Legionnaires’ outbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mayor Mamdani hit back against City Council Speaker Menin\u2019s attacks over his administration\u2019s handling of the Legionnaires\u2019 outbreak<\/a> \u2014 saying he was putting public health over politics.<\/p>\n

Menin has criticized the mayor for not ordering more proactive cleaning of cooling towers on the Upper East Side, where the outbreak occurred<\/a> and has been linked to five deaths and nearly 80 infections in Menin\u2019s Council district.<\/p>\n

But Mamdani said he was more concerned about making sure the job is done right.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m frankly less interested in the politics of it all, more in the public health of it,\u201d the mayor said in a response to a question about the Council speaker\u2019s criticism.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York City Council Speaker Julie Menin (left) speaks during a press related to the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak on the Upper East Side of Manhattan during a press conference at Lenox Hill Hospital Tuesday, July 21, 2026, in New York City. (Barry Williams\/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Mamdani said on Wednesday that a blanket cleaning approach, like Menin had called for, could actually backfire by degrading the towers, creating an environment for the bacteria to latch onto and proliferate in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that Legionnaires\u2019 is something that has affected our city over many, many years, and we are both trying to stop this cluster in the moment and ensure that we are not weakening our ability to stop it in the future,\u201d Mamdani said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I sat with public health experts, what I was told time and again is that if we were to do a blanket disinfectant of every single cooling tower across the Upper East Side, that would weaken those cooling towers\u2019 ability to protect against Legionnaires\u2019 in the years to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not rest until each and every New Yorker is living the public health that they deserve,\u201d Mamdani said, adding that that means fighting this cluster and ensuring better city processes for future years.<\/p>\n

\"Clockwise,Clockwise, from top-left: 501 E. 87th St., 125 E. 87th St., 120 E. 87th St. and 100 East End Ave. in Manhattan were four of the buildings with positive results for the presence of the type of Legionella bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease. (Barry Williams\/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

A day earlier, before city officials announced the fifth death<\/a> connected to the outbreak, Menin knocked the administration for moving too slowly on the crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith every hour that towers were not disinfected, with every day that they were not prophylactically disinfected, more New Yorkers became sick, and four tragically died. That is simply unacceptable,\u201d Menin said at a press conference before the announcement of the latest Legionnaires\u2019 death.<\/p>\n

Menin had also raised concerns about a tower cleaning compliance law passed by the City Council last year that took effect in May. She said that about 25% of the city\u2019s cooling towers were not compliant with the new law.<\/p>\n

But as for the immediate outbreak, health officials said the city had turned the corner.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good news is we\u2019re in a very reassuring position,\u201d Health Commissioner Alister Martin said. \u201cWe\u2019re confident that we\u2019ve eliminated that source. When we look at the data, the data demonstrates that the last new diagnosis of Legionnaires\u2019 disease was on July 15th.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MayorMayor Zohran Mamdani speaks at City Hall on Wednesday, July 22, 2026. (Ed Reed \/ Mayoral Photography Office)<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Council speaker disputed that her criticisms of the administration\u2019s handling of the outbreak were politically motivated.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince this Legionnaires\u2019 outbreak began, Speaker Menin has heard from hundreds of her constituents, many of them concerned about the health and safety of their families and neighbors,\u201d Jack Lobel said. \u201cShe has advocated for them in calling for the most rapid and robust public health response possible and arranging an oversight hearing on proposals to better contain future outbreaks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has nothing to do with politics,\u201d the spokesperson said, \u201cand Speaker Menin\u2019s recent statements are consistent with her advocacy during last year\u2019s Legionnaires\u2019 outbreak in Harlem.\u201d<\/p>\n

The disease is a severe form of pneumonia<\/a> caused by the Legionella bacteria. The cluster was first identified on the Upper East Side in early July, per city data. The bacteria can grow in buildings\u2019 HVAC cooling towers.<\/p>\n

Most people exposed to the bacteria do not become sick, but the disease is fatal in about 10% of cases and is most dangerous for those above age 50 or with underlying health conditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Mamdani hit back against City Council Speaker Menin\u2019s attacks over his administration\u2019s handling of the Legionnaires\u2019 outbreak…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[110049,110215,19077,113148,8467,9,24,1057,55,54,56,466,82],"class_list":["post-303332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-cooling-towers","tag-disease-cluster","tag-julie-menin","tag-legionella","tag-legionnaires-disease","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-council","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-upper-east-side","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}