The New York City Health Department has ordered 10 cooling towers in the South Bronx to be cleaned and disinfected after preliminary testing found the presence of Legionella bacteria as officials investigate a cluster in ZIP codes 10451 and 10456.
Two of the locations are tied to high-profile sites: One cooling tower is at Yankee Stadium, 1 E. 161st St., where the Yankees played the Mets in the Subway Series on Sunday, and another is at 234 E. 149th St., the address of Lincoln Hospital. The Boricua College Bronx Campus at 890 Washington Ave. is also among the sites.
NYC officials on Sunday said there are now nine confirmed cases connected to the cluster; three people were hospitalized and one person has died.
Mandatory cleaning and disinfection of the 10 cooling towers is expected to be finished by Monday, the health department said.
The 10 towers tested positive for the presence of Legionella bacteria through an initial PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test.
“The one limitation, the one thing wrong with the PCR test, is it can’t tell us if the DNA is live Legionella or dead,” NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Alister Martin said at a virtual town hall for people in the Melrose and Morrisania neighborhoods Sunday. “And so, some of those 10 might have live bacteria, some of those might have dead bacteria, and it’s only the live bacteria that can get you sick.”
The city said it is also conducting culture testing to determine whether live Legionella bacteria were present when the samples were collected, but that results can take up to two weeks.
The 10 cooling towers with positive PCR results are located at:
- 820 Concourse Village West
- 234 E. 149th St.
- 1 E. 161st St.
- 470 E. 161st St.
- 1265 Franklin Ave.
- 567 Melrose Ave.
- 3339 Park Ave.
- 1160 Teller Ave.
- 890 Washington Ave.
- 1085 Washington Ave.
In all, the city has inspected 24 cooling towers as part of the investigation.
The probe began after the NYC Department of Health identified a cluster of Legionnaires’ disease cases in Melrose and Morrisania, which are part of ZIP codes 10451 and 10456.
Anyone who lives or works in or has visited the area since late August and develops flu-like symptoms should contact a healthcare provider immediately.
Authorities said it is safe to shower, drink tap water and use air conditioners in the affected ZIP codes unless otherwise advised, and that there is no additional risk from being inside any of the 10 buildings with cooling towers that tested positive for the presence of Legionella bacteria.
The Health Department will host an in-person town hall at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Metropolitan College in the Bronx.
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC New York. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC New York journalist edited the article for publication.
