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The bustling Metropolitan Museum of Art and several pricey Manhattan prep schools are among dozens of new buildings to test positive for the bacteria behind the growing Legionnaires’ disease outbreak on the Upper East Side.
The buildings are among 76 that the New York City Health Department has ordered to thoroughly clean and disinfect their cooling towers after they tested positive for Legionella bacteria, as the outbreak has sickened 63 people and counting.
The Met, along with 19 other properties, has been ordered to remediate its tainted water-cooling towers by Thursday, New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Alister F. Martin said in a statement Tuesday.
Multiple posh Upper East Side private schools have also been ordered to remediate their bacteria-infested cooling towers, including the all-girls Chapin School at 100 East End Ave., whose tuition boasts a hefty $68,250 price tag per year.
Cooling towers atop buildings associated with the Spence School and the Dalton School — two ritzy K-12 college preparatory schools with tuition costs upwards of $70,000 — also tested positive for Legionella and will need to be cleaned and disinfected.
Meanwhile, 57 buildings, including the Guggenheim Museum, have already completed the required remediation, according to the DOH.
The latest number of buildings identified with Legionella-positive cooling towers is more than double the 31 addresses released by the health department on Friday.
The health department has sampled a total of 183 cooling towers in the ZIP codes of 10028, 10128, and 10075.
“We are inspecting every building with a positive PCR test for the presence of live or dead Legionella bacteria. We will issue violations to building owners found not to have been properly maintaining their cooling towers,” Martin said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the Met Museum said in a statement to The Post that the few activities scheduled for Wednesday, when the museum is typically closed, have been canceled to support the remediation process.
Non-essential museum personnel have also been ordered to work from home.
“The safety and wellbeing of our visitors, staff and volunteers is of the utmost importance to us. Along with several other neighborhood institutions, we have been notified by the Department of Health that testing detected a trace amount of Legionella bacteria in our cooling tower system,” the spokesperson added.
“In accordance with New York City guidelines and our established health and safety protocols, we have immediately initiated the required remediation and are working with the City and our third-party water management specialists to conduct follow-up testing,” the statement said.
The busy museum welcomed over 5.7 million visitors between its main Upper East Side campus and The Met Cloisters last year — the latest stat available.
With the new and concerning Legionella finding, however, the spokesperson said there was no risk to visitors or staff.
“Based on guidance from the city and public health experts, this finding does not pose a risk to staff or visitors inside the Museum. We will continue to work closely with the Department of Health and will provide updates as they become available.”
The growing list of infected buildings comes as 63 people have been sickened with the potentially deadly disease.
The majority of the over five dozen people who have fallen ill — or 52 victims — have had to be hospitalized with Legionnaires’ disease, health officials said. There have been no recorded deaths thus far.
“For people who do get sick, Legionnaires’ disease can cause severe illness and even death, which is why we respond rapidly and aggressively and recommend seeing a doctor right away if you have been to the area and develop any flu-like symptoms,” Martin said in a statement.
“People at an increased risk include adults ages 50 and older, people who smoke or vape, those with chronic lung disease, people with weakened immune systems.”
City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who represents the Upper East Side, blasted the health department for not having ordered the proactive disinfection of cooling towers in the area of the Legionnaires’ cluster.
“As I have said since the beginning of this Legionnaires’ outbreak, the Department of Health should have immediately ordered the proactive disinfection of cooling towers in the affected area rather than waiting for PCR test results. Every day of delay created more opportunity for additional exposure,” Menin said in a statement.
“The Council will hold a hearing to demand accountability, examine the City’s response, and ensure we have the oversight and enforcement necessary to better protect New Yorkers from future outbreaks.”
The Chapin School, Spence School, and Dalton School did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Additional reporting by Carl Campanile
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