Disease-Ridden City Now Rid Of One Disease

New York doesn’t have Legionnaires anymore, but it still has a bunch of other shit.

On Thursday, New York Health Commissioner Mary Bassett announced that the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak that briefly plagued the Bronx was officially over. The outbreak killed 12 and sickened over 120.

Investigators traced the disease’s origin to a rooftop air conditioning unit at the Bronx’s Opera House Hotel.

The AP reports:

In all, there have been 128 cases and almost all patients hospitalized with the disease have been discharged, officials said. But it’s unclear whether every patient walked right by the hotel; mist can travel up to a mile, under some conditions, officials said.

The outbreak has become the city’s most significant public health crisis since last fall’s Ebola scare. For more than a month, cases of Legionnaires’ — a form of pneumonia especially dangerous for the elderly and for people with underlying health issues — have been reported throughout a section of the South Bronx, the city’s poorest neighborhood.

“We eliminated the danger posed by the Opera House Hotel’s cooling tower as soon as it tested positive for disease-causing Legionella,” Bassett said. “Today, all cooling towers in the affected area have been disinfected, and all cooling towers across the City are being evaluated and disinfected if necessary.”

In response to the outbreak, Mayor Bill deBlasio signed legislation aimed at increasing regulations for cooling towers.