Mamdani Administration Slammed for Declaring Victory Over Deadly Legionnaires' Outbreak

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's administration is facing sharp criticism after health officials declared an end to new exposures in a deadly Legionnaires' disease outbreak on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

The outbreak has already killed seven people, and five patients remain in the hospital, as questions grow about how slowly and incompletely the city responded.

At a virtual news conference and in a press release, Health Department officials said the 14-day incubation window for new cases had closed and that no new symptoms had appeared.

Officials said the cooling tower that spread the Legionella bacteria had been neutralized through disinfection and that ZIP codes 10028, 10075 and 10128 no longer faced an elevated risk.

READ MORE: Hochul Won't Rule Out Tax Hikes for Child Care as Mamdani Looks On

'Left to Die'

The announcement did little to calm residents who say they felt ignored during the hot July weeks when the disease took hold in the neighborhood.

Saundrea Coleman, an Upper East Side NYCHA resident, described the frustration many of her neighbors share. "We just feel like we're just left to die," she said.

Coleman accused the mayor and his team of being "absent" while fear of exposure hung over the community. Locals complained that there was little basic outreach, with almost no effort to hand out information or place staff in building lobbies at the height of the crisis.

Inspection Gaps

City records point to clear lapses. In the three affected ZIP codes, officials inspected just one building in May and issued no summonses. In June, there were no inspections and no fines for potentially contaminated cooling towers, even as temperatures climbed and the outbreak picked up speed.

Only about half of the roughly 160 buildings in the zone have been fully inspected.

When reporters asked Deputy Commissioner for Environmental Health Corrine Schiff about the gap, she said, "Our inspection work is citywide. I can't confirm what you have here in terms of the cluster area, but the work that we do in our routine work is citywide."

READ MORE: Mamdani Orders ICE Off City Lots and Rolls Out New Rules for Parks Workers as Hochul Backs Him

The announcement came one day after the seventh death was confirmed. Officials privately acknowledged that the final toll could climb as high as 12, the number of deaths in the city's worst previous Legionnaires' outbreak in 2015.

A cluster in Harlem last year killed five people and had already put the administration on notice. Community board president Valerie Mason said the latest response was still sluggish until local pressure forced more aggressive disinfection.

"First of all, there are seven people dead," Mason said. "There is no victory lap to be taken here or patting on the back. I am disgusted by this press release, 'put a medal on me' attitude. There is no applause warranted here."

The Mayor Was Elsewhere

Mason noted that the affected ZIP codes include Gracie Mansion, the mayor's official residence. While health officials celebrated, Mamdani spent Friday morning in the Bronx staging a photo opportunity on the staircase made famous by the 2019 film "Joker" instead of meeting with affected residents.

Critics also turned to the $54 million Office of Mass Engagement created under Mamdani, which residents and elected officials said was nowhere to be found when practical communication was needed most. "I don't think they're engaging en masse, to be honest," Coleman said.

City Councilman Phil Wong, a Queens Democrat, was blunt. "It's becoming clear that the Office of Mass Engagement is more interested in political messaging than public engagement," Wong said. "Governing and keeping New Yorkers informed during a public health emergency is very different from producing cute campaign-style videos, and this office has been MIA when people actually need it."

City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who had earlier pressed the administration for faster action, took a more cautious tone. "While I'm pleased by the news that the exposure period has ended, my thoughts remain with the five residents still hospitalized and those for whom it may take weeks or months to recover," Menin said in a statement.