Legionnaires’ disease outbreak: Guggenheim Museum among 31 UES buildings with cooling towers that contained illness-causing bacteria

Key Points:

• Cooling towers at 31 Upper East Side buildings in Carnegie Hill and Yorkville preliminarily tested positive for Legionella bacteria amid an outbreak that has sickened 46 people, with 22 hospitalized and no deaths reported.
• Of the 31 buildings, 19 have completed remediation, including prominent sites like the Guggenheim and Whole Foods, while 12 others were ordered to finish cleaning by Saturday under emergency measures.
• Health officials emphasized that positive PCR results do not confirm live bacteria presence or link to the outbreak, and residents face no increased risk from indoor air or tap water; further culture testing and genome sequencing are underway to identify live bacteria and outbreak sources.
• The city is taking a more transparent and aggressive approach by publicly releasing addresses and ordering immediate remediation based on PCR screening, with ongoing investigations into compliance with cooling tower maintenance regulations.
• Symptoms of Legionnaires’ disease can appear up to 14 days after exposure, so officials warn more cases may surface; people in affected areas with flu-like symptoms are urged to seek medical care, especially those at higher risk, while free testing programs have not been announced.