Weeks after the city declared New York City’s largest outbreak of Legionnaires to be over, which occurred in the South Bronx killing 13 people and sickening hundreds, NYC Department of Health has releases a statement that 7 new cases have come up, this time in the East Bronx neighborhood of Morris Park.
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Welcome2TheBronx is conducting research on individuals who have been infected with Legionnaires’ during New York City’s largest outbreak in history in the South Bronx which has claimed 13 lives and hundreds infected.
Please email us a info@welcome2thebronx.com or call 917.532.7504. All information will be kept strictly confidential and you will not be identified if you choose not to.
largest Legionnaires’ outbreak in history which infected hundreds and killed 13 individuals in The South Bronx (including a teacher who worked in the area who passed away in April),Welcome2TheBronx has been insisting that the city tests our drinking water supply systems since study after study and the EPA and CDC clearly indicate that the majority of cases originate within such systems.
Now, two weeks after the outbreak was declared by Department of Health Commissioner Mary T. Bassett as contained, the drinking water supply systems at one NYCHA building at Melrose Houses at 681 Courtlandt Avenue has tested positive for Legionella where 4 people have become ill including one before the “official” outbreak.
New York City Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett has just announced that The Opera House Hotel was ground zero for New York City’s largest outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease which took the lives of 12 South Bronx residents (although DOH still is not connecting the teacher who died from PS 325 in the impact zone back in April).
According to an email obtained by Welcome2TheBronx, Hostos Community College, which has an enrollment of over 7,000 students, has tested positive for Legionella, the bacteria which causes Legionnaires’ disease, however it is 10x below the threshold for recommended cleansing action by OSHA guidelines. Still, Hostos Community College went ahead and made sure that all cooling towers were treated and cleaned regardless of the results.
The building sits catty-corner to the Bronx General Post Office which tested also tested positive for Legionella and remained closed for several days while its cooling towers were treated and cleaned and is one of 5 buildings in a 1/2 mile radius from each other as you can see by zooming in on the map below.
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This past Friday, BOOM!Health opened its doors to the public as the non-profit began the process of consolidating its Bronx offices under one roof at the former Brook House Furniture building across from the Old Bronx Courthouse.
This Sunday from Noon to 4PM is your LAST CHANCE to Boogie on The Boulevard in 2015 for this 3 Sunday summer event which closes off the center lanes of The Grand Concourse between 161st and 167th Street—a full 7 city block stretch—transforming this area into a huge an approximately 4.75 acre recreational space filled with fitness and health activities, art, dancing, bike riding, skating, performing arts and so much more!
This Sunday will also have a special treat for everyone: Morris Perk will be stationed inside The Bronx Museum serving their popular Bronx Blend coffee, limeade, and delicious pastelitos (aka pastelillos aka empanadas) made locally right here in The Bronx supporting other Bronx women owned businesses! (The last two times Morris Perk served all of this deliciousness, they sold out so make sure to get there early before they are all sold out!
An article in City & State yesterday indicated that medical and health experts agree with exactly what Welcome2TheBronx has been saying since we first found out about the Legionnaires’outbreak in the South Bronx: The drinking water supply in the buildings of those infected should have been tested.
Welcome2TheBronx has been accused of spreading misinformation when we questioned the possibility of our drinking supply not being safe and the need for testing based on federal health and safety guidelines yet experts have come out saying it’s ridiculous that New York City Department of Health hasn’t done so.
The first thing we were told when New York City’s largest Legionnaires Outbreak in its…
The Banknote Building (which half of the building is leased by NYC’s HRA department serving people on public assistance), The Bronx Detective Bureau, Daughters of Jacob Nursing Home, and Department of Homeless Services Intake Center in The Bronx were found to have tested positive for Legionella as it has crossed over into East Harlem in Manhattan and found at Taino Towers as mandatory testing of cooling towers is now in effect.
The Opera House Hotel in Melrose, The South Bronx, one of the sites identified as having had a Legionella contaminated cooling tower in New York City’s largest outbreak of Legionnaires’ in city history, issued a statement today which slams New York City Department of Health due to officials who, “…have refused to provide us with any information.”
The Opera House Hotel also claims that NYC DOH has yet to tell the hotel that their water cooler tested positive.
According to Erin Clark of NY1 as per a press conference yesterday, there were 3 additional Legionella contaminated sites besides Bronx Housing Court and Bronx County Hall of Justice. The Bronx General Post Office, Samuel Gompers High School and another Verizon building have been identified as contaminated and since been disinfected. This is the first time that a school has tested positive for the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease which has infected over 100 and killed 10 not including a South Bronx teacher who died in April from the disease.
What do these buildings all have in common? Our drinking supply. Although our reservoirs may be fine and technically when New York City Department of Health tells us that our supply is safe, it does NOT mean that the systems of which it travels through is.
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