<img src="https://healthylife7.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/NYC_aerial-1-1-2.jpg” alt=””>
City health officials have zeroed in on 19 buildings of interest and with the number of sick people jumping from 28 to at least 36, there is pressure to identify those buildings. It’s not known what buildings are being looked at, but all have one thing in common: a roof-top cooling tower that’s preliminarily tested positive for the bacteria that causes legionnaires. NBC New York’s Melissa Russo reports.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration released a list of addresses linked to the growing outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease — a severe form of pneumonia — on the Upper East Side, and it includes one of the city’s most famous museums
The address lists 31 total buildings divided into two categories: 19 buildings that have drained, cleaned and disinfected their cooling towers; and 12 buildings where the cleaning is still pending. Each of the buildings listed had previously tested positive for the presence of the Legionella bacteria
Below are the lists of buildings that have already completed the cleaning process (left), and the buildings where cleaning was still pending (right), according to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene:
Watch NBC 4 free wherever you are
WATCH HERE
| Cleaning process completed | Cleaning still pending |
| 180 East End Avenue | 1875 Second Avenue |
| 1750 York Avenue | 1110 Fifth Avenue |
| 1660 Second Avenue | 153 East 78th Street |
| 1438 Third Avenue | 135 East 79th Street |
| 1511 Third Avenue | 300 East 79th Street |
| 1551 Third Avenue | 238 East 81st Street |
| 1071 Fifth Avenue | 160 East 84th Street |
| 1080 Fifth Avenue | 114 East 85th Street |
| 1001 Fifth Avenue | 401 East 88th Street |
| 240 East 82nd Street | 333 East 91st Street |
| 8 East 83rd Street | 354 East 91st Street |
| 145 East 84th Street | |
| 117 East 85th Street | |
| 125 East 87th Street | |
| 152 East 87th Street | |
| 120 East 87th Street | |
| 501 East 87th Street | |
| 168 East 88th Street | |
| 160 East 88th Street |
The buildings where the cleaning was still pending were ordered to have it completed by Saturday. Among the addresses that have completed the cleaning process is the Guggenheim Mueseum, at 1071 Fifth Avenue
Releasing the addresses of impacted buildings is a step not taken by past administrations when Legionnaires’ outbreaks have occurred
Health
Health5 hours ago
86 people have been hospitalized with foodborne parasite spreading across the U.S., CDC says
Health14 hours ago
Why NYC council speaker and Health Department are at odds over Legionnaires outbreak
The information was shared after the number of sick people jumped Thursday from 28 to at least 46, including 22 current hospitalizations. The Health Department has been updating those counts daily around 10 p.m. recently
No one has died, though NYC City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who has criticized the health department’s handling of the outbreak, says it’s only a matter of time, given the vulnerable senior population in that district. Health officials haven’t released information about the ages or potential underlying conditions of those sick
The investigation is said to have started with two potentially linked cases at the start of July. The Health Department said water samples were collected from more than 180 cooling towers. As of Thursday, positive results were found at 31 buildings. Testing remains ongoing, and more buildings could be added to the list
The Health Department noted that because testing does not distinguish between alive or dead bacteria, none of the results so far can confirm which buildings were the
Authorities had previously said they zeroed in on 19 buildings as possibleuildings ahead of Friday’s release. The buildings have one thing in common: A rooftop cooling tower that preliminarily tested positive for the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease
Even though longer-term testing is required to know if the bacteria detected is dead or alive — meaning harmless or dangerous — health officials said that all 19 buildings have already been ordered to drain and disinfect their towers, out of an abundance of caution
Menin wants the city to be proactively disinfecting all cooling towers in the area, unless they have tested negative.
“It is shameful to wait, to continue to wait, while we know more and more people every single day are getting sick and potentially can die of this disease,” Menin said Thursday. “We have to prophylactically disinfect and that is what I’m urging the Health Department to do immediately.”
But the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said disinfecting a cooling tower before a sample has been collected makes it impossible to trace whether that tower was the actual
In response to criticism from Menin, the NYC Health Department said in a statement: “Since July 2, the Health Department has been aggressively identifying cooling towers that test positive for the presence of Legionella bacteria and ordering building owners to clean and disinfect. We identified this cluster early and have acted quickly to get the word out to New Yorkers.”
The area of concern involves ZIP codes 10075, 10028 and 10128, covering the entire east side from about 76th Street to 97th Street — an area where both Mamdani and Menin live
At senior centers just a few blocks outside that zone, city health workers were busy distributing information to East Side residents whose age and underlying health concerns put them at additional risk
Health officials have said the problem is not the result of any building’s plumbing system, and that anyone who lives in the impacted area can continue to drink tap water, shower, cook, and use their air conditioners
