Legionnaires disease NYC: Council speaker Menin blames Mayor Mamdani administration as death toll rises to 5 - ABC7 New York

What the report says

WABC-TV reported that New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin is faulting Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration after the death toll in an Upper East Side Legionnaires’ disease outbreak rose to five. In a New York Post op-ed cited by the station, Menin accused City Hall and the Health Department of inadequate urgency and transparency, arguing that officials should have moved to disinfect cooling towers across the affected area before testing was complete.

The mayor rejected that criticism Wednesday, saying his administration had pursued an unusually strong remediation and enforcement effort to remove Legionella bacteria. According to WABC-TV, city inspectors sampled cooling towers tied to the outbreak area, with disinfection orders issued when samples came back positive. Officials said that testing and processing many samples took time.

The city reported 84 outbreak cases, including five deaths. Seven people remained hospitalized, 59 had been treated and released, and 13 were not hospitalized. The Health Department said 183 cooling towers at 160 buildings had been tested; initial PCR testing found Legionella in 77 towers at 75 buildings, while culture testing confirmed live bacteria in 51 towers at 50 buildings. Officials said those confirmed sites had been cleaned and disinfected, with more results still pending.

Health Commissioner Dr. Alister Martin said broad early biocide treatment could have damaged towers and complicated efforts to identify the source. Mamdani said no new symptoms had been reported in more than 10 days and no new diagnoses in a week, suggesting the initial cluster’s source may have been eliminated. WABC-TV reported that the exact source has not been identified and the investigation continues.