There has been a steady trickle of information coming out about Legionnaires disease cases in New York. The summary to date is that there are now 12 known cases in the Bronx borough. Among whom there are eight residents of the Co-op City complex in the Bronx. The New York News reports that the New York City Health Department has confirmed in a preliminary report that a cooling tower used to cool the heating and electrical systems of the 15,000 unit North Bronx complex is the source of the killer bug. The management company River Bay Corporation has now started to use biocides to treat the water and is paying $200,000 to have the tower scrubbed clean.
The newspaper also reports that earlier related sicknesses in 2012 and 2013 have been kept from the complex residents, who started to complain about the current outbreak of illnesses in March 2014.
While it may be difficult to jump to the conclusion that the management of the water systems has been less than perfect, there is no doubt that regular checking for Legionella in the complex cooling tower might have picked up the problem earlier prompting timely action.
Terry Taylor the President of the International Council for the Life Sciences – and currently a New York City resident commented:
“The available technologies for accurate, simple and rapid on-site testing should be exploited. Given the serious threat to occupants of large housing complexes from legionella it could even be described as irresponsible for building owners not to take advantage of the technology when it so obviously in their interest to do so. It is not only in the interest of public health, but also makes financial sense too.”