New York Today: A Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreak

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/17/nyregion/new-york-today-a-legionnaires-disease-outbreak.html

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Updated, 12:02 p.m.

Good morning on this moist Tuesday.

Sixteen New Yorkers around lower Washington Heights had been sickened by Legionnaires’ disease, a severe form of pneumonia, as of Monday night.

The city’s Department of Health and local physicians are monitoring the outbreak closely. Here are answers to a few common questions:

What are the symptoms?

Fever, coughing, shortness of breath, muscle aches, weakness and sometimes, gastrointestinal troubles like diarrhea, said Dr. Marshall Glesby, associate chief of the division of infectious diseases at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian.

It could look a lot like the flu.

Is it contagious?

No.

“It’s not contagious human-to-human,” according to Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the deputy commissioner of disease control. Legionnaires’ disease comes from inhaling water vapor that contains the Legionella bacteria.

“It’s environmental exposure plus risk,” he added. Those at higher risk include people over 50, tobacco smokers or those with chronic lung disease, and those with weakened immune systems (from diabetes or treatments like chemotherapy, for example).

So how can someone tell the difference between being sick and having Legionnaires’?

You can’t, so don’t self-diagnose.

“Don’t try to distinguish a flu or cold from Legionnaires’ disease if you’re specifically living in that lower Washington Heights area,” Dr. Daskalakis said. “We’re keeping that area broad. If you’re in that part of the city and have flu-like symptoms, that’s not one to wait on.”

If caught early enough, Legionnaires’ disease can generally be treated with antibiotics.

Is there anything we should avoid, for now, to stay safe?

The disease can come from any number of water sources — like cooling towers, hot tubs, pools and aquariums — but the Health Department is still investigating the cause.

“It would be premature to tell people to avoid swimming pools,” Dr. Glesby said. “But if they’ve been in an area where there’s an outbreak, this should be on their radar screen.”

Here’s what else is happening:

A heat advisory is in effect until tonight — the high around 85 could feel more like the mid-90s.

(Cooling centers remain open across the city; click here to find one near you.)

Plan for showers and thunderstorms, too, mainly in the afternoon and evening.

Hair forecast: A midsummer night’s droop.

• The N.Y.P.D. told the Justice Department that it would begin disciplinary proceedings against the officers involved in the killing of Eric Garner in the absence of federal action. [New York Times]

• For decades, the Roman Catholic church overlooked Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick’s sexual harassment of men studying to be priests. [New York Times]

• Months after hundreds of immigrant youths were separated from their parents at the southwestern border and sent to New York, some are now being sent back south to rejoin them. [New York Times]

• Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo enters the tail end of the Democratic primary campaign with an enormous fund-raising advantage, a whopping $31.1 million to Cynthia Nixon’s roughly $660,000. [New York Times]

• One New Jersey senator’s push for the recreational use of marijuana would grant the state’s existing medical dispensaries a license to sell marijuana the first day it became legal. [New York Times]

• A group of tenants in a Brooklyn building owned by the Kushner Companies filed a lawsuit that claimed the developer tried to drive them out of the building. [New York Times]

• Comptroller Scott Stringer is calling on the state to impose limits on security deposits, which he says unfairly burden low-income New Yorkers. [Curbed]

• New York City recently saw the opening of its first legal vodka distillery since the establishment of Prohibition. [Urban Daddy]

• Several young Democratic candidates for the New York State Senate hope the surprise congressional primary win by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a sign of a new progressive wave. [AM New York]

• Today’s Metropolitan Diary: “A Cookie Conundrum”

• For a global look at what’s happening, see Your Morning Briefing.

• “Rebel Women: Defying Victorianism,” an exhibition featuring women who challenged ideals in 19th century New York, opens at the Museum of the City of New York in East Harlem. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. [$18 suggested admission]

• The Brooklyn-based orchestral collective the Knights performs a classical concert at the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park. 7:30 p.m. [Free]

• ... And it’s the first preview performance for the Shakespeare in the Park production of “Twelfth Night” at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. 8 p.m. [Free]

• Outdoor evening yoga: Randalls Island Park and Inwood Hill Park in Manhattan; Hunter’s Point South Park and Beach 102nd Street in Queens. Times vary. [Free]

• Outdoor movie night: “Beasts of the Southern Wild” in Harlem; “Coco” in Queens; “The Sandlot” on Staten Island; “Jumanji” and “Creed” in Brooklyn. Times vary. [Free]

• New York Liberty at Dallas Wings, 1 p.m.

• Alternate-side parking remains in effect until August 15.

• For more events, see The New York Times’s Arts & Entertainment guide.

New York City library cardholders: You’re in luck.

Culture Pass — launched yesterday by the New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Library — now grants you free access to dozens of local destinations including the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, the Frick, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Morgan Library, the Guggenheim, the Whitney and other adored institutions across the five boroughs.

Here’s the full list.

Cardholders can snag free day passes to these institutions by clicking here to reserve them online. (The catch: It’s not unlimited; you have one pass per cultural institution each year.) For those with guests, some places will allow you to reserve for two adults or families of four.

As Culture Pass evolves, participating establishments will soon host free programming — including talks, workshops and other cultural events — at city libraries. More on that later.

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