Four New Yorkers have been killed by Legionella bacteria in the last week, tragedies that were preventable if New York City had performed its core, lifesaving duty to monitor and inspect air conditioning cooling towers.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is focused on creating a socialist utopia instead of keeping the city running. The current outbreak is concentrated in ZIP codes 10128, 10028, and 10075.
City officials claim the worst is probably over. But all signs point to more Legionella outbreaks — and a city unprepared to stop them. Short of staying inside, there’s little you can do to avoid Legionella, a form of bacterial pneumonia, unless you wear a highly effective N95 mask. Flimsy masks sold in drugstore packets do not provide adequate protection.
Too bad, because 12% of people who contract Legionella die within 30 days. The source of the current outbreak is cooling towers on buildings with commercial air conditioning systems. In hot weather, cool water circulates through buildings and is sent to cooling towers, where fans send water vapor into the air. Sometimes this vapor becomes contaminated with Legionella bacteria, which randomly develop in warm water. As the vapor floats downward, it can sicken anyone walking by, especially older people and those with chronic diseases.
Legionella is endemic to the East Coast during hot weather, but deaths are preventable if public health departments and elected officials fulfill their duties. This requires buildings to test cooling towers monthly as required by city regulations and for towers to undergo mandatory annual inspections. As of late June (before the annual heat wave), the city had inspected slightly more than one out of five cooling towers since the start of the year, compared with over half in June 2017 when the city first implemented inspections.
Recent data show that buildings failing monthly testing were not penalized. Nearly a quarter of buildings — including private schools, museums, and Fifth Avenue residences — had no required test results on record in 2026, disregarding neighbor health. The city’s enforcement has been at its lowest since the implementation of the current inspection program under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, who spent much of his term at the gym. Enforcement levels have dropped again during the final months of Eric Adams’ mayoralty.
New Yorkers paid the price: a killer outbreak in Harlem last summer killed seven people within eight days of symptom onset. Over 80% of those affected were Black, and many required intensive care — including 24 individuals. The outbreak was linked to a cooling tower that had lapses in routine monitoring; city authorities took no action.
Now, as the Mamdani administration tries to evade blame for the current outbreak, NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Alister Martin has stated: “We are heartbroken” about the latest three deaths and that “our aggressive strategy of testing, enforcement and remediation appears to have stopped the source of exposure.” That is after the fact. Too late, Dr. Martin. These deaths did not have to happen.
With the new rent freeze, landlords facing rising maintenance costs and no revenue increases will cut corners on water testing and cooling tower maintenance. The city also must be alert for Legionella impacts on nursing homes this summer. Late Monday, dangerous levels of Legionella were found in a long-term care facility in Rochester, New York, forcing it to switch to bottled water and stop all bathing.
Let the deaths in New York this week serve as a red flag that being mayor is a serious management responsibility. It is not about speculating on the popularity of arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — an illegal act — or cycling around the city while grinning for cameras. The investor class is seeing warning signs of managerial inexperience. Municipal bond yields have risen sharply, indicating debt holders are nervous as the mayor demands ever-higher taxes to fund socialist policies and maintain record levels of cash welfare.
Voters across the nation should watch this unfold and learn from it as they are wooed by candidates offering Mamdani-like theatrical appeal and utopian visions but lacking governing experience.
Betsy McCaughey, Ph.D., is a former lieutenant governor of New York and a well-known political commentator, constitutional expert, and regular guest on national television and radio programs.
