In Harlem, many say they wished for more info about Legionnaires' outbreak

Those who live or work in Central Harlem have known for weeks that wide swaths of their community had been designated a cluster zone for Legionella — where recent tests revealed the deadly bacteria had turned up in tests of water cooling towers.

What most didn’t know until Thursday was the precise location of buildings, 10 in all, where Legionella was detected in 12 towers amid a breakout of Legionnaires’ disease that as of Friday had claimed four lives and sickened 101 others. The bacteria is spread through water droplets and vapors emanating from the bulky towers, usually found on rooftops

Many Harlemites said Friday the disclosure of the precise locations by the city — more than two weeks after the outbreak came to light — was unforgivably slow and had denied them opportunity to make timely decisions about their personal health and safety.

“Let us make the choice,” said Miguel Walters, an office worker at one of the affected buildings identified by the city, on 125th Street. “Let me make the choice if I want to walk down 124th or 123rd and I pass the building. I don't appreciate taking our choice away by not letting us know.”

Walters said he found out about the building’s test results because he works for the local community board. He spoke with Gothamist in his capacity as a private citizen. Walters added he wished the building’s owners or management company had alerted employees, especially maintenance staff, about the test results. Building managers did not make themselves available for an interview with Gothamist.

Earlier, the city has advised people who live and work in ZIP codes affected by the outbreak — 10027, 10030, 10035, 10037 and 10039 — to seek medical attention immediately if they experience symptoms associated with Legionnaires’, including cough, trouble breathing, fever, chills or muscle aches. The severe pneumonia can be treated effectively with antibiotics if it’s caught early, city health officials say.

The city previously said 11 cooling towers in that vast stretch had tested positive for Legionella through an initial screening process. City officials said on Thursday they had completed a more rigorous form of testing and found Legionella in 12 cooling towers in all, at 10 sites, and then identified them.

All but one had already undergone remediation and the final one was expected to complete remediation on Friday. City officials said they delayed identifying the buildings because they wanted everyone in the area to be mindful of their health — not just those who live or work near a specific building.

Nonetheless, some in the area on Friday said they had been unaware of the outbreak, let alone which buildings or towers had been identified as problematic.

“I guess it kind of sucks,” said Eduardo Torres, 19, a cashier at a GNC store in one of the affected buildings. “I might start coming in with a mask.”

At a health clinic at 133 Morningside Ave., another site where the city said testing had revealed Legionella in a cooling tower, a metal gate blocked the entrance. Several patients with scheduled appointments stood outside confused.

Raiza Pujols, 50, said a receptionist told her the building was closed for cleaning due to an illness, and rescheduled her appointment virtually.

Regina Mercer, 65, said she was shocked to learn that Harlem Hospital, at 506 Lenox Ave., was among the sites where Legionella was detected. She said she wished more was done to educate the public about the affected sites.

“You’ve got people that work here, patients that’s in here,” Mercer said. “Why wasn’t that mentioned?”

The sites identified Thursday by the city include CUNY City College’s Marshak Science Building at 181 Convent Ave., the NYC Economic Development Corp. at 40 West 137th St., and the city health department’s Central Harlem Sexual Health Clinic at 2238 Fifth Ave.

Among the 10 buildings, all but one had cooling towers that were either behind on required Legionella testing or had not been inspected by the city in the past year, according to a Gothamist analysis of city data.

By law, building owners are required to test for the presence of Legionella bacteria every three months. While the city is not required to regularly inspect cooling towers, health department spokesperson Chantal Gomez said the agency aims to inspect every tower annually. She added that staff shortages have made that difficult in recent years, but the agency is continuing to recruit inspectors.

Aides to Mayor Eric Adams stressed in a briefing Thursday that the number of new cases in Central Harlem had started to decline since hitting a peak in early August, suggesting that the remediation of the cooling towers appears to be working. Investigators, however, have not yet said the tainted cooling towers were the cause of the current spate of inventions.

City officials have said said their investigation continues.

“The risk of contracting Legionnaires' disease today is dramatically lower than it was a few weeks ago,” acting Health Commissioner Dr. Michelle Morse told reporters on Thursday.

“I want to reassure everyone, the air is safe to breathe and there's no risk to our drinking water or our water supply,” Adams said.

Jory Lange, a lawyer who represents 25 people who have contracted the disease, said the slowing rate of infections “is a good thing” and “ hopefully they have stopped the spread of this bacteria.”

But he noted that a dozen tainted cooling towers was no small number.

“That's a lot of cooling towers,” he said. “We shouldn't be seeing that. And that's a sign that the building owners are not doing what they should be doing.”

A Gothamist analysis of public data found that city inspections have dropped off significantly since they started in 2017. But responsibility for keeping towers clean also lies with building owners. ​​About 75% of all cooling towers in the ZIP codes affected by the current outbreak have up-to-date reporting on their Legionella testing as of early August, compared with 73% citywide, Gothamist found.

The agency has the authority to test water in cooling towers and issue violations to owners who fail to comply with prevention measures. After a Legionnaires' outbreak that sickened 138 people and killed 16 a decade ago, city law requires building owners to test for Legionella bacteria every three months.

City Council oversight

Lynn Schulman, a council member from Queens who chairs the council’s health committee, said elected officials would be assessing existing laws meant to prevent such occurrences at a Sept. 8 hearing.

“ We're going to take a look at that, see if anything needs to be tightened up, see if anything needs to be changed, see if there were any gaps this go-round,” Schulman said.

Schulman said Legionnaires’ “thrives in warm weather,” and that the council had additional reason to re-assess the laws on the books, with the problem of climate change.

“ As the weather gets warmer for longer periods of time, we want to make sure that the city is totally prepared for any outbreaks,” she said.