Politicians Demand Transparency About Legionnaires' Outbreaks

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY —Washington Heights' representative in the City Council called for greater transparency regarding cooling tower inspections following a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires' Disease in the neighborhood.

City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez led a rally on the steps of city hall to demand a change in how the city handles cooling tower inspection results. Rodriguez said the city should be more transparent when a tower fails test and that fines should be increased for buildings that fail.

The current fine for a first-time violation is $2,000 and the fines for subsequent violations can not exceed $5,000 the councilman said. For failed inspections of towers that lead to a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires' Disease the fine is no more than $10,000.

"New Yorkers should be aware if they run any risk of contracting Legionnaires' when they step into a building and that information should be easy to find. We should work on tougher consequences and higher penalties for building owners with cooling towers that have failed inspection," Rodriguez said in a statement.

Rodriguez did not say what the exact increase in fines should be. State Senator Marisol Alcantara and Public Advocate Letitia James voiced support for Rodriguez' proposed reforms.

An outbreak of Legionnaires' Disease has sickened a total of 18 people in the "lower" Washington Heights area, and one of those people has died, health officials said. The person who died was older than 50, officials said. Health Department officials have tested 20 cooling towers of buildings and is saying that neighborhood residents can continue to use water as usual despite the rise in the number of people sickened by the outbreak.

A Health Department spokeswoman told Patch that the department does not disclose the specific locations of outbreaks.

Legionnaires' symptoms include fever, cough, chills, muscle aches, headache, fatigue, loss of appetite, confusion and diarrhea and generally surface two to 10 days after contact with the bacteria Legionella. Common culprits in the spread of the Legionella bacteria include cooling towers, whirlpool spas, hot tubs, humidifiers, hot water tanks, and evaporative condensers of large air-conditioning systems, the Department of Health said. The city sees an average of 200 to 500 cases of Legionnaires' Disease each year, health officials said.

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