Originally published: July 12, 2026; updates ongoing — For important background on the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, read this. For an article highlighting questions that the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) has not answered, read this.
Data below are from DOHMH. Prior to the July 11 report, DOHMH was only providing what I interpreted to be current hospitalizations as of the day of the report. On July 11, I reached out to DOHMH to point out the importance of providing an “aggregate hospitalized” number (that provides important context, including the percentage of diagnosed patients hospitalized at any point). Later on July 11, DOHMH provided a daily count that began to include “discharged,” which, when added to the “currently hospitalized” number, provided the aggregate hospitalizations. Note: “Discharged” refers only to patients who were admitted to the hospital and then discharged, not those patients who came to an Emergency Department, got a diagnosis and antibiotics, and were released without hospital admission (confirmed by DOHMH spokesperson on July 15).
Jul. 22 clarification: DOHMH explains that the date that DOHMH confirms a case and have it show up on its data page can lag behind the actual date of patient diagnosis. As such, the fact that the count of diagnosed cases has continued to rise is not reflective newly diagnosed cases. Dr. Aister Martin, the DOHMH Commissioner, stated that the “last new diagnosis of Legionnaires’ disease was on Jul. 15.” Jul. 29 clarification: DOHMH stated that, “No cases were diagnosed after 7/21.”
For context of the current aggregate hospitalization percentage, a 2015 Bronx outbreak had an aggregate hospitalization rate of 93 percent; and 2025 Harlem outbreak had an aggregate hospitalization rate of 78 percent.
Summer 2026 Upper East Side Legionnaires’ Disease Outbreak, per DOHMH | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DOHMH | Diagnosed | Aggregate | % of Diagnosed | Currently | Discharged | Deaths |
July 30 | 92 | 79 | 85.9 | 5 | 67 | 7 |
July 29 | 92 | 78 | 84.8 | 6 | 66 | 6 |
July 28 | 90 | 77 | 85.6 | 6 | 65 | 6 |
July 27 | 90 | 77 | 85.6 | 7 | 65 | 5 |
July 26 | 89 | 76 | 85.4 | 7 | 64 | 5 |
July 25 | 89 | 76 | 85.4 | 7 | 64 | 5 |
July 23 | 87 | 74 | 85.1 | 7 | 62 | 5 |
July 22 | 84 | 71 | 84.5 | 7 | 59 | 5 |
July 21 | 82 | 69 | 84.1 | 8 | 56 | 5 |
July 20 | 76 | 64 | 84.2 | 7 | 53 | 4 |
July 19 | 74 | 62 | 83.8 | 8 | 51 | 3 |
July 18 | 72 | 60 | 83.3 | 9 | 50 | 1 |
July 17 | 71 | 59 | 83.1 | 10 | 48 | 1 |
July 16 | 67 | 55 | 82.1 | 12 | 43 | 0 |
July 15 | 64 | 53 | 82.8 | 13 | 40 | 0 |
July 14 | 63 | 52 | 82.5 | 12 | 40 | 0 |
July 13 | 60 | 49 | 81.7 | 15 | 34 | 0 |
July 12 | 59 | 48 | 81.4 | 15 | 33 | 0 |
July 11 | 56 | 47 | 83.9 | 16 | 31 | 0 |
July 10 | 54 | N/A | N/A | 18 | N/A | 0 |
July 9 | 46 | N/A | N/A | 22 | N/A | 0 |
July 8 | 36 | N/A | N/A | 22 | N/A | 0 |
July 6 | 23 | N/A | N/A | 17 | N/A | 0 |
July 3 | 10 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 0 |
July 2 | 2 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 0 |
Source: DOHMH’s Legionnaires’ Disease page. Note: because the page is updated daily, | ||||||
Updated July 15 with DOHMH confirmation of definition of “discharged.”
Updated and corrected July 29 so that the category of aggregate hospitalizations properly encompasses deaths.