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New York City council speaker blames Mamdani administration as Legionnaires’ death toll rises to 5
ByN.J. Burkett
Wednesday, July 22, 2026 7:59PM
N.J. Burkett has more on the story.
NEW YORK (WABC) –New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin is putting blame on Mayor Zohran Mamdani for the Legionnaires’ outbreak on the Upper East Side after a fifth person has died from the disease
Menin, in an op-ed for the New York Post, is pointing the finger at the mayor’s office, saying New Yorkers deserve “real answers from Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration.”
The council speaker cited a failure of leadership, a lack of transparency and a lack of urgency
“I repeatedly called on the Health Department to proactively disinfect cooling towers throughout the affected area…. Instead, the department chose to wait – and the crisis spread,” she wrote
On Wednesday, Mayor Mamdani defended his administration’s response
“This is the most aggressive remediation and enforcement strategy that our city has ever taken to eliminate the
City health inspectors took samples from cooling towers, where Legionnaire’s disease was first diagnosed. If a sample tested positive for the bacteria, that building would be under orders to disinfect the tower. But collecting scores of samples-and testing them-took time
To date, there are 82 cases in the outbreak with five deaths. Eight patients remain in the hospital, 56 have been treated and released and 13 were not hospitalized
Mayor Mamdani said the data indicates that the outbreak is likely over
“We believe that we have now eliminated theoms reported in more than 10 days and no new diagnoses in a week,” Mamdani said
And NYC health commissioner Dr. Alister Martin told reporters that Menin’s approach would have been counterproductive
“Every time we do this biocide treatment, it actually does degrade the cooling towers,” Martin said. “And thus, in the future, allows them to potentially harbor more Legionella bacteria. Had we done blanket disinfectant from the beginning, we wouldn’t be able to actually get the samples. And we need the samples to know what caused this.”
Data from the city’s health department shows 70% of the city’s inspections of cooling towers since 2017 have resulted in violations
Health officials have not yet identified the outbreak’s exact
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