New York City Council holds hearing on plans for future Legionnaires' disease outbreaks

New York City officials are taking a close look at the city's response to the recent Legionnaires' outbreak on the Upper East Side and how to protect residents from the disease in the future.

There was emotional testimony Wednesday morning as the City Council's Committee on Health held an oversight hearing.

The outbreak earlier this summer resulted in 94 confirmed cases and 11 deaths, with 59 cooling towers testing positive for Legionella bacteria.

"We do not take any loss of life lightly," New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Alister Martin said. "At the health department, we do everything we can to prevent Legionnaires' disease clusters from happening and to respond urgently when they do. That's exactly what we did."

It is still unclear which cooling tower, if any, was the source of this summer's cluster. The city is waiting on genetic testing results for more answers.

Ida Goldstein, whose husband, an 88-year-old Air Force veteran, died from the disease, spoke at the hearing.

"My heart was breaking watching him suffer. It murdered him and destroyed me," Goldstein said. "There will never be another like him."

Daniel Thomas' 92-year-old father, Charles, died after going through multiple medical procedures.

Thomas said his father's last words were, "I will not live to see the end of this matter, but I do want to see change."

The hearing comes after Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a plan to ramp up the city's response to the disease. He said there will be more oversight of cooling towers by tracking registered towers and cracking down on unregistered ones.

"Much more needs to be done to make our cooling tower infrastructure safe for New Yorkers during the summer months," said Council member Lynn Schulman. "It's unacceptable to enforce the city's cooling tower laws only once an outbreak occurs."

The committee is now examining gaps in inspection and staffing and considering legislation to protect New Yorkers from future outbreaks. It is also mulling laws to strengthen cooling tower cleaning and expand public education and outreach.