Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
UES Legionnaires' disease cluster has hospitalized 17, but no deaths yet, officials say
By
Caroline Lewis
Published Jul 7, 2026
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Alex Potemkin/Getty Images
By
Caroline Lewis
Published Jul 7, 2026
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
The Legionnaires’ disease outbreak on Manhattan's Upper East Side has hospitalized 17 people so far — the majority of the 23 who have tested positive for the severe form of pneumonia since the disease cluster was identified late last week, the city health department said.
No deaths have been tied to the outbreak so far, but Legionnaires’ can be deadly. An outbreak in Central Harlem last year infected more than 100 people over the course of several weeks and killed seven. City health officials are emphasizing that Legionnaires’ is treatable with antibiotics when it’s caught early.
“ Every case that we are able to get early is another case that we can potentially treat,” Dr. Alister Martin, the city health commissioner, said at a virtual town hall on the Legionnaires’ cluster Monday evening.
Cases have been identified in the ZIP codes 10028, 10128, and 10075 – a swath of the Upper East Side extending from Central Park to the East River. City health officials are urging anyone who lives in the area or has visited since late June to keep an eye out for signs of Legionnaires' and to seek medical attention as soon as possible. Symptoms can include fever, chills, muscle aches, cough, difficulty breathing, fatigue and diarrhea, according to the city health department.
Martin said the case count keeps ticking up, in part, because healthcare providers have been advised to test for the disease and New Yorkers who might have been exposed have been advised to visit the doctor and ask to get tested if they start to get sick.
“That case count is a sign of the system working, right?” Martin said.
Legionnaires’ disease is not contagious and city health officials say this cluster is likely caused by a cooling tower in the area spewing mist containing Legionella bacteria into the atmosphere.
City health officials said some who are being diagnosed now might have inhaled that bacteria before the outbreak was identified and the city began the work of trying to contain it. It can take anywhere from two days to two weeks for Legionnaires’ symptoms to show up after exposure, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Health department staffers are in the process of sampling the water from the 160 or so cooling towers in the affected area so they can be tested for Legionella, city health officials said Monday. All of the towers that test positive will be drained, cleaned and disinfected.
The city has so far conducted initial screenings of about a third of the cooling towers in the area and will finish that work within the next few days, Martin said. He said cleaning the towers that tests positive for Legionella is the top priority and should prevent more people from getting sick — but he said identifying the “smoking gun” cooling tower that is the true source of the outbreak could take weeks.
City health officials are holding an in-person town hall on the Legionnaires’ outbreak Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Church of St. Ignatius Loyola — Wallace Hall, at 980 Park Ave.
Tagged
Health and Science
Legionnaires disease
manhattan
Caroline Lewis
Caroline Lewis is on the health care beat for WNYC and Gothamist. She has covered COVID, a nurses' strike, the overdose crisis and New York’s marijuana legalization effort, and spent a year investigating patients' medical bills. She always wants to hear about how everyday New Yorkers experience the health system. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Plan to modernize NYC's diesel-spewing produce market falls apart under Mamdani
Bronx officials are scrambling to try to salvage a transformative project worth $650 million.
By
Elizabeth Kim
Published Sep 29, 2026 at 6:00 a.m. ET
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
News
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .