New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Michelle Morse said Friday she supports a proposal to require building owners to test their water-cooling towers more frequently for Legionella, along with other reforms she said could help reduce the risk of future outbreaks.

But she added there are no foolproof guarantees, despite disease experts saying that Legionnaires’ disease is largely preventable with proper water-system maintenance.

“We are fighting nature in many ways and it’s very difficult to get the risk [of Legionnaires’ disease] to be zero,” Morse said during a City Council oversight hearing on this summer’s Legionnaires’ outbreak in Central Harlem. More than 100 people were sickened in the outbreak, 90 were hospitalized and seven died.

She defended the health department’s response to

See Full Page