NEW YORK — Upper East Side residents demanded answers from health officials at a town hall Tuesday as the number of cases of Legionnaires’ disease in the area climbed to 23, with 17 people hospitalized, according to the latest figures from the city’s Health Department. Several of those hospitalized are in critical condition in the intensive care unit, according to city Health Commissioner Dr. ...

Alister Martin speaks at a town hall meeting concerning the Legionnaires disease cluster at St. Igatius Loyola Catholic Church on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, in New York.

Barry Williams/New York Daily News/TNS

NEW YORK — Upper East Side residents demanded answers from health officials at a town hall Tuesday as the number of cases of Legionnaires’ disease in the area climbed to 23, with 17 people hospitalized, according to the latest figures from the city’s Health Department.

Several of those hospitalized are in critical condition in the intensive care unit, according to city Health Commissioner Dr. Alister Martin.

The outbreak was detected last week in the Carnegie Hill and Yorkville neighborhoods, spanning from E. 74th to E. 96th Sts., affecting the Upper East Side’s 10028, 10128 and 10075 zip codes, Department of Health officials said.

Legionnaires’ disease is a type of pneumonia that produces flu-like symptoms, including fever, chills, muscle aches and cough. It’s caused by a bacteria that grows in warm water, and is contracted by breathing in contaminated water vapor, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most people recover with antibiotics, but the illness can occasionally be fatal in people at increased risk, including those age 50 or older and people with a weakened immune system or chronic lung disease.

“This is an area that has a high number of seniors who are very susceptible and vulnerable to Legionnaires’,” City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who represents the district, told the town hall. “The source has still not been identified, which is obviously of concern,” she added.

However, officials believe the outbreak’s source to be a cooling tower on an Upper East Side rooftop that is spraying water mist, according to a notice from the city’s Health Department. Department staffers are sampling and testing water from all cooling tower systems in the cluster area, officials said.

A law requiring buildings to test monthly during the summer for the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease and to provide the data to DOH went into effect May 8. However, Menin said, “We know that there are numerous buildings that did not comply with this new City Council law. That is deeply, deeply concerning, because obviously this could have been preventable.”

“One of the questions we have is, how many buildings did not comply?” she continued. “What kind of enforcement mechanism did the Department of Health use? What kind of fines were assessed? These are all questions that we have for the Health Department.”

Last summer seven people died and 90 people were hospitalized in an outbreak in Harlem.

Legionnaires’ disease is not contagious, and officials stressed that people in the affected area of the Upper East Side can continue to drink tap water, bathe, shower, cook and use their air conditioners.

Adults with any flu-like symptoms, fever, cough or difficulty breathing in the affected areas since late June are encouraged to seek immediate medical attention, officials said.

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