BronxCare among two buildings in South Bronx Legionnaires' investigation
Seventeen cases of Legionnaires' disease have been confirmed in the area, including two deaths.
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A BronxCare facility is among two buildings at the center of a New York City Health Department Legionaires' investigation in the South Bronx.
Seventeen cases of Legionnaires' disease have been confirmed in the area, including two deaths.
Ten cooling towers tested positive for the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease, according to the Health Department.
Two of the buildings, BronxCare's Martin Luther King Jr. Health Center on Franklin Avenue and an office building housing the Social Security Administration on Concourse Village West, have failed to provide documentation showing their cooling towers had been tested every 30 days, as required by city regulations.
The department says all 10 cooling towers that tested positive have since been drained and cleaned and is now considering violations for the two buildings, but Speaker of The New York City Council Julie Menin believes this enforcement comes far too late.
"We don't believe the Health Department has done enough to combat this," Menin told News 12 political reporter Heather Fordham, Wednesday.
Menin is criticizing the department for not having enough inspectors on the ground testing cooling towers ahead of the summer when Legionaires' is more of a threat, adding one-third of the positions were vacant.
"We want to make sure that all of those inspector positions are filled so that we can make sure that these buildings are being tested, that if they're not compliant, the violations are being issued," Menin said.
According to the Health Department, 23 positions were added to its cooling tower program in November 2025, bringing the total to 56 positions.
"Forty-five positions have been filled, five are in the onboarding process and six are in active recruitment," a spokesperson told news 12.
Since the city's new 31-day testing rule took effect May 8, the Health Department says it has conducted nearly 1,000 cooling tower inspections and issued more than $127,000 in fines.
More than half of those inspections resulted in at least one violation, according to the department.
"At the Health Department, we do everything we can to prevent Legionnaires' disease clusters from happening in the first place — and respond urgently when they do," the department said in a statement. "Our top priority is the health and safety of New Yorkers, especially those concerned for their health right now in the South Bronx."
Health officials say Inspections for each of the cooling towers in the South Bronx investigation are underway, and any violations will receive the appropriate penalty.
BronxCare did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
