5th person dies in Legionnaires' disease outbreak in New York City
[July 22, 2026]
By JENNIFER PELTZ
NEW YORK (AP) — A fifth person has died in a Legionnaires' disease
outbreak in New York City, health officials said Tuesday night.
The New York City Health Department said it has confirmed the presence
of the bacteria in 34 cooling towers in 33 buildings, all of which are
being cleaned. Officials still haven't identified the source of the
bacteria that has sickened more than six dozen people in the last month.
No new patients have come forward with symptoms in the last 10 days, the
department said in a news release.
Legionnaires’ disease, a form of pneumonia, is treatable but kills about
10% of patients, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. It’s caused by Legionella bacteria, which grow in warm water
and can spread in such places as hot tubs and building cooling
equipment. People may contract the disease by inhaling contaminated
water droplets, but it doesn’t spread person-to-person.
Eight people are still hospitalized and 56 others have spent time in but
been discharged from hospitals in the Upper East Side outbreak,
officials said.
The city is cleaning and disinfecting a total of 82 cooling towers in 80
buildings, they said.
Inspections have shown that some of the tony neighborhood's fancy
apartment buildings, private schools and renowned museums had traces of
Legionella bacteria in their air-cooling equipment — despite new
regulations that upped testing requirements just this spring, and
despite a budget boost to hire more inspectors.
Some owners of buildings that tested positive have said they have worked
to stay on top of any Legionella threat. The Guggenheim Museum, for
instance, said in a statement that an outside company tests and treats
the institution’s cooling tower every month.
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The situation is avoidable and frustrating, said Jory Lange, a Texas
attorney who represents over 50 people who were affected by an outbreak
last year that killed seven people and sickened over 100 in New York’s
Harlem neighborhood. He’s representing at least three patients who are
recovering in the Upper East Side outbreak.
"There’s no excuse for this to keep happening," Lange said. “New York
already has the best and strongest regulations … and yet this still
keeps happening.”
New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Alister F. Martin said in a
statement that the department's quick action after the first two
confirmed cases “saved lives.” Martin said the department will learn
what happened from the ongoing investigation and update policies and
procedures with the goal of preventing future outbreaks.
After the Harlem outbreak, city leaders authorized the Health Department
in November to hire 23 more Legionella-focused water ecologists and
supervisors, bringing the intended total to 56. The staff currently
stands at 35, the department said in a statement Tuesday, noting that
another 14 people are in a monthslong process of orientation, training
and shadowing veteran inspectors. The department said it's working to
fill the final seven positions.
Nevertheless, the agency said it did nearly 1,600 cooling tower
inspections in the first six months of the year, 35% more than during
the same period in 2025.
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