New Legionnaire’s Probe Underway at Harlem Apartment Complex

Health officials are investigating whether Legionnaire’s disease is present at an apartment building complex in Harlem, after a deadly local outbreak of the respiratory illness sickened 114 people and killed seven last summer.

Two of the five water towers at 3333 Broadway are being evaluated by inspectors, after earlier reports noted that two residents living at the five-building complex—which houses over 10,000 people—contracted Legionnaire’s disease within the past year.

“Water samples have been collected and are at the lab for analysis. We expect results within about two weeks. Results will be shared with residents once confirmed,” a spokesperson for the NYC Health Department confirmed to Straus News.

Officials have said that they are working in close coordination with elected officials and residents at 3333 Broadway, formerly known as the Riverside Park Apartments. City Council Member Shaun Abreu, who represents the area, has himself alerted his constituents of the testing being done at 3333 Broadway.

Some residents of the housing complex on Broadway told The Columbia Spectator that they felt inadequately informed about the outbreak, however, after health authorities reportedly told them that “two residents in Tower B” had contracted the disease as of Jan. 2. They then were invited to an informational meeting on Jan. 5, which reportedly left some interviewees unsatisfied.

“We left the meeting without clear timelines, without dates, and without a clear understanding of how this investigation is moving forward,” Tower B resident Heather Berhane told The Spectator. “In fact, the primary guidance that residents receive from the health department was to take cold baths instead of showers for the foreseeable future without an end date.”

The Harlem Legionnaire’s probe mirrors another one ongoing in Yorkville, at the Cherokee Apartments—located between East 77th and 78th Streets, as well as between York Ave. and Cherokee Place—which also involves two detected cases over the past 12 months.

Unlike the Broadway outbreak, Health Dept. officials believe that the Yorkville outbreak is tied to the co-op building’s plumbing system, rather than any water towers on its roof.

Concerning the Yorkville case, Health Dept. officials have provided statements similar to the one provided for the Broadway investigation, namely by promising that they are “in close communication with the building residents and owners to ensure everyone has accurate information to keep them safe.”

Legionnaire’s disease is derived from the Legionella bacteria, which spreads through infected water vapor and is not contagious. Many people who are exposed to Legionella will avoid contracting the disease, although the mortality rate can be as high as 10 percent for those that do.

The bacteria thrives in the warm water found in the base of cooling towers, such as those currently being investigated, although it can also be found in everything from hot-water tanks to hot tubs. The disease cannot fester in AC window units, however.

During last year’s deadly outbreak, the disease was discovered in cooling towers spread across ten buildings. As Gothamist noted, the city’s health department lost nearly a third of its hired inspectors prior to the outbreak, despite a funding boost; many of the buildings connected to the outbreak were not tested for more than a year. The hiring of inspectors has reportedly been on the incline since.

That outbreak lasted all the way from July 25 to August 29, and led to the passage of a City Council bill that strengthened citywide testing requirements for the disease.

The bill, known as Intro 1390-A, passed by an overwhelming margin of 45 to 2. It requires that building owners test cooling towers on a monthly basis, as well as requires them to conduct “biocide treatment [for] each cooling tower during warm weather when there is an increased risk of legionella growth.”