Yankee Stadium cooling tower tests positive for Legionella, NYC says
Ten cooling towers in the South Bronx, including one at Yankee Stadium, tested positive for Legionella bacteria amid a local outbreak. Health officials have ordered the towers to be cleaned, though they noted that the presence of DNA does not confirm live bacteria or direct exposure risk.
Why it matters
Public health concerns regarding Legionnaires' disease require rapid intervention to prevent further spread in densely populated urban areas.
A cooling tower at Yankee Stadium was among 10 in the South Bronx that preliminarily tested positive for Legionella bacteria amid an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease that has killed one person and sickened eight others, city health officials said Sunday.
The city Department of Health ordered all 10 cooling towers to be cleaned and disinfected by Monday, Sept. 14. One was at 1 E. 161st St., where the Yankees were playing the Mets on Sunday. Another was at 234 E. 149th St., the address of Lincoln Hospital.
NYC Health + Hospitals said Sunday evening that Lincoln’s cooling tower had been completely drained, cleaned and disinfected. A spokesperson for the Yankees said their cooling tower was also drained, cleaned and disinfected Sunday morning. The team said its most recent Legionella test, conducted Aug. 20, was negative and that no cases in the current cluster have been associated with Yankee Stadium.
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