A fourth person has died in the outbreak of Legionnaires' Disease in the Bronx.
Tuesday, Legionella bacteria was found at Lincoln Hospital, but the hospital was not determined to be the original source of the outbreak.
Cooling towers at five buildings have since tested positive for the bacteria, with the first four locations reported decontaminated and the fifth location expected to be cleared of the bacteria on Saturday.
“We’ve identified five cooling towers that have the bacteria that can cause this disease, and all five of those towers have been disinfected. So at this moment the risk of getting infected from those cooling towers has been removed for residents of the South Bronx,” said Dr. Jay Varma, deputy commmissioner at the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
The Opera House Hotel tested positive yesterday, and crews are finishing a scheduled cleaning today. The hotel stayed open.
"We are taking all the necessary steps to make sure that we are safe, that the hotel is still a safe place to stay. The Department of Health tells us, again, that it does not affect the guests, so that the water that's used in the rooms, neither the air conditioning units, it's isolated to the cooling towers," says the hotel's general manager, Julio Vargas.
A spokesperson for Verizon, one of the buildings that came back positive for the bacteria but has since been disinfected, said in a statement: "Verizon was made aware late Friday that the cooling system in its building 117 East 167th Street in the Bronx had a positive test for the Legionella bacteria. The company immediately flushed, cleansed and sanitized the cooling system per industry standards... The company is performing checks on all cooling systems at all its facilities in the Bronx."
As of Saturday afternoon, there were 65 reported cases of Legionnaires'. The city says all of those who died of the disease were older adults with underlying medical problems.
Officials say the city's drinking water, as well as its pools and fountains, are safe.
They stress that Legionnaires is only spread through breathing mist or a water droplet containing the bacteria.
“Well the first thing we want to do is make sure there’s no panic. Obviously, there’s major concerns. This is something that we’ve seen it in the past. We’ve seen it in Co-op City. We’ve seen it in other parts… Every year there’s some type of outbreak throughout the city of New York. People should understand you can not contaminate this to another person,” said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.
Officials say they are reaching out with updates to senior centers, homeless shelters and other locations housing vulnerable populations.
The first of the dozens of cases of Legionnaires' Disease across the South Bronx was reported on July 10.
There will be a town hall meeting on Monday for South Bronx residents with Council Member Vanessa Gibson.