Talking about the outbreak, De Blasio said, ” As revealed the potential, and I want to emphasize on the potential, the potential grand total of 161 buildings in the area of the South Bronx which is very defined.
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Mayor Bill De Blasio stressed Thursday that the mandated tests are a precautionary measure and the city is “confident that we have already disinfected the source of this outbreak”.
“We’ve never seen a situation like this before in New York City or, of course, these efforts would have been in place in advance”, the mayor said. New York state officials are deploying teams to help test cooling towers amid a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease.
The disease is a form of pneumonia caused by breathing in mist contaminated with the Legionella bacteria and is considered particularly unsafe for the elderly and for people with underlying health issues. Officials said all 10 people who died had other complicating conditions.
The outbreak appears to have peaked with no new cases diagnosed over the last four days, but the inspection and cleaning of cooling towers will continue as the city battles the Legionella bacteria, which thrive in warm water, de Blasio said. De Blasio said that one or more of the five sites announced last week where Legionnaires’ had been detected, likely caused the start of the outbreak: – Lincoln Hospital, remediation completed – Concourse Plaza, remediation completed – Opera House Hotel, remediation completed – Verizon remediation, completed Streamline Plastic Co., remediation completed He also identified five new sites that were cleaned and disinfected after the bacteria was found: – 1106 Hoe Ave.
New York had not previously attempted to list all of the estimated 2,500 cooling towers within its five boroughs.
That assertion led to yet another chapter in the simmering feud between Cuomo and de Blasio.
“We took charge on day one”.
Some 108 people were sickened in the outbreak, with 18 still hospitalized, de Blasio said. “We also know that this is an emerging reality not just here in this city but around our state and nation”.
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Owners of cooling towers have 14 days to go with the position, that comes as 100 individuals have been confirmed suffering when using the illness, according to metro area health and well-being branch facts. Failure to comply is a misdemeanor.
