Chair Schulman calls for year-round preventive enforcement

While the city's outreach efforts and transparency during the cluster improved from last year, much more needs to be done to make our cooling tower infrastructure safe for New Yorkers during the summer months.

The data shows that DOHMH can enforce these laws and protect New Yorkers when Legionnaire's disease is in the headlines and people are sick.

Now the agency needs to show the same level of commitment to preventive enforcement 365 days a year.

I want to be very clear.

This cannot be the new norm.

Nobody should die from Legionnaire's disease in our city.

We cannot accept that we will lose more New Yorkers to this disease every year.

It is unacceptable to enforce this city's cooling tower laws only once an outbreak occurs.

This administration must increase enforcement at all times of the year, and it must renew its focus on preventive measures.

Building owners need to understand that there will be strict consequences for cutting corners and violating the law.

I said this last year, and I will say it again, it should not take a major outbreak to trigger enforcement of our laws.

People should not have to die for building owners to face consequences.

We know this from over a decade of data.

When the city continuously enforces the law, we save lives.

As climate change makes our summers hotter and as our city ages and becomes more vulnerable to Legionnaire's disease, we must use every available avenue and resource to create a safer and healthier city.

We must also work to identify where our laws can be tightened and where we can do more to keep New Yorkers safe and informed.