Gothamist78%
5 dead, 82 sick in Upper East Side Legionnaires’ disease outbreak 6%
By Giulia Heyward49%
7/21/2026, 11:43:00 PM
Topics: Legionnaires Disease Outbreak
Keywords: Legionnaires Disease, Outbreak, Upper East Side, New York City, Health, Bacteria, Cooling Towers
BS Summary: This article contains 8 faulty reasoning types, including Hindsight Bias, Recency Bias, and Hasty Generalization, with Optimism Bias as the most egregious example at 10.8% saturation with 47 hits. Analysis detected 200 faulty-reasoning hits from 435 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 22.5% and a BS Rank of 6% (19,184 of 20,363 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 94.20% of the article peer group.
A fifth person has died in connection with an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease on the Upper East Side.
The death is among 82 confirmed cases associated with the outbreak, the city Health Department said on Tuesday.
The numbers continued to rise just one day after the city confirmed a fourth death from the disease, a type of pneumonia contracted by inhaling water vapor containing Legionella bacteria.
Confirmatory testing has found live bacteria in 34 cooling towers at 33 buildings on the Upper East Side, officials said.
All 34 cooling towers have been cleaned and disinfected, as have other cooling towers that previously tested positive, the city said.
Officials said the city was awaiting results for 140 remaining cooling tower systems tested for the bacteria.
The city also said it took swift action after learning of the cluster, which helped “save lives,” according to city Health Commissioner Dr.
Alister F.
Martin.
“We believe that through our aggressive strategy of testing and remediation we have eliminated the source of exposure.
We will learn more as our investigation unfolds and look forward to updating our existing policies and procedures to [prevent] future clusters,” Martin said.
“Right now, we are focused on identifying the source of exposure through laboratory analyses and holding accountable anyone found out of compliance with local laws.”
The city said 56 people who contracted the disease have been discharged from the hospital, while eight remain hospitalized.
No new cases have been diagnosed in six days, and no one has reported new symptoms in more than 10 days, according to the Health Department.
The outbreak has affected three Upper East Side ZIP codes: 10028, 10075 and 10128.
The city said cooling towers at the following addresses had tested culture positive:
100 East End Ave.
180 East End Ave.
1381 Lexington Ave.
1486 Lexington Ave.
*
1020 Park Ave.
1249 Park Ave.
1750 York Ave.
1660 Second Ave.
1438 Third Ave.
1551 Third Ave.
1001 Fifth Ave.
1080 Fifth Ave.
1045 Fifth Ave.
*
1071 Fifth Ave.
135 E 79th St.
155 E 79th St.
300 E 79th St.
301 E 80th St.
*
511 E 80th St.
238 E 81st St.
240 E 82nd St.
8 E 83rd St.
13 E 84th St.
145 E 84th St.
7 E 86th St.
120 E 87th St.
125 E 87th St.
501 E 87th St.
168 E 88th St.
410 E 92nd St.
200 E 95th St.
235 E 95th St.
115 E 97th St.
*
* Tested PCR negative and culture positive.
All have been remediated.
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4speakers46%attributed speech234writer words
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100%flagged-word coverageAlister F. Martin
67 attributed words33% of attributed speech24% writer coverage
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