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A second person has died from the Legionnaires’ disease cluster in the Upper East Side, health officials announced, but the recent decline in new cases suggests that the source of the deadly outbreak has likely been eliminated.
“We are heartbroken to learn that another New Yorker has lost their life to Legionnaires’ disease on the Upper East Side. Our deepest condolences are with their loved ones as they grieve,” NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Alister F. Martin said Saturday.
The new fatal case comes just one day after health officials announced the first death connected to the outbreak in the Manhattan neighborhood on Friday.
The latest Legionnaire’s disease outbreak to strike the city has seen at least 72 cases with over 50 people hospitalized.
Nine remain in the hospital as of Saturday night, officials said.
An average of one new case had been reported per day between July 10 and July 17, a sharp decline from the first week of July where an average of over eight new cases were being reported daily, officials said.
All victims of the outbreak have been on the Upper East Side from the cluster in the Carnegie Hill and Yorkville neighborhoods.
“While we mourn this loss, the data are also encouraging. Our aggressive strategy of testing, enforcement, and remediation appears to have stopped the source of exposure,” Martin said.
The disease, which stems from Legionella bacteria that has been found in 76 cooling towers across Upper East Side neighborhoods and one on the Upper West Side, is a deadly type of pneumonia that can be treated with antibiotics if caught early.
City officials ordered all buildings that returned positive screening results to clean and disinfect their systems as part of the investigation.
All required remediations were completed by July 16.
“We will continue inspecting every cooling tower that tested positive and will hold accountable any owner who fails to comply with our public health laws,” Martin added.
This year’s outbreak comes after over 250 cooling towers around the Big Apple were cited for issues relating to Legionella testing since last year — and more than half of those were in Manhattan.
Last year, there was an outbreak of the disease in Harlem that killed five people and sickened 114.
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