Commissioner Martin details Upper East Side cluster response timeline
Martin describes identifying the cluster on July 2nd, mobilizing testing of 183 cooling towers over the July 4th weekend, and using PCR and culture testing. He notes 90% of patients developed symptoms before July 7th, meaning exposure predated the investigation.
As part of the Upper East Side cluster, 94 people were diagnosed with Legionnaires'disease.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
And tragically, 11 people died.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
At the Health Department, we do everything we can to prevent Legionnaires'disease clusters from happening in the first place and to respond urgently when they do.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
That is exactly what we did.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
On the afternoon of July 2nd, our waterborne disease surveillance experts who monitor our data every day identified a potential cluster of Legionnaires disease cases even before
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
Our sophisticated surveillance analytics tools showed a signal.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
This allowed us to quickly mobilize our team at the earliest possible moment.
They should have as much information as those who are comfortable with it.
Our team's decision is a credit to their years of experience and expertise.
If you live or work in a building with a cooling tower, your landlord should be required to notify you.
Their quick thinking and ingenuity likely saved lives.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
Over the historically hot 4th of July weekend, we mobilized to start testing all 183 cooling towers in the three zip codes for Legionella bacteria.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
Our team of water ecologists recently expanded to 56 budgeted positions, including 23 new hires in November 2025.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
Our environmental health division supported the response, including the effort to collect samples from each cooling tower and take them back to the lab.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
There we immediately began a two-pronged testing process.
The first piece was to subject them to PCR testing, which yields results quickly to determine whether Legionella bacteria are present.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
Crucially, these tests cannot determine if the bacteria is dead or alive, and only living bacteria can make people sick.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We also began the culture testing process, which is the gold standard in detecting live Legionella bacteria.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
These tests more precisely detect the presence of the type of Legionella, of live Legionella bacteria that can cause illness, but they take up to two weeks to produce results.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We do not wait two weeks to act.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
For each of the 83 preliminary PCR tests that came back positive,
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We ordered building owners to fully drain, clean, and disinfect their cooling towers, and all of them complied.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.
We were overwhelmed with inquiries about whether people should be able to go to the Upper East Side.