Local hospital’s cooling tower was found to be harboring the bacteria after seven people died and 90 were hospitalized over three weeks
New York City has declared the deadly legionnaires’ disease outbreak in central Harlem over, nearly three weeks since it began.
On Friday, city health officials announced that there have been no new cases among residents who live or work in the area since 9 August. As of Friday, there have been 114 cases of legionnaires’ disease, with 90 people hospitalized – six of those remaining in hospital – and seven deaths.
In a statement on Friday, New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, said: “Today marks three weeks since someone with symptoms was identified, which means New Yorkers should be able to breathe a sigh of relief that residents and visitors to central Harlem are no longer at an increased risk of contracting legionnaires’ disease – but our job here is not done.”
“We must ensure that we learn from this and implement new steps to improve our detection and response to future clusters, because public safety is at the heart of everything we do … This is an unfortunate tragedy for New York City and the people of central Harlem as we mourn the seven people who lost their lives and pray for those who are still being treated,” he added.
