{"id":14742,"date":"2020-12-03T11:44:41","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T16:44:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.paawwa.org\/?p=14742"},"modified":"2020-12-03T11:44:41","modified_gmt":"2020-12-03T16:44:41","slug":"pa-senate-co-sponsorship-memo-legionnaires-disease-prevention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.linnflux.tech\/paawwa\/pa-senate-co-sponsorship-memo-legionnaires-disease-prevention\/","title":{"rendered":"PA Senate: Co-sponsorship Memo – Legionnaires\u2019 Disease Prevention"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senate of Pennsylvania
\nSession of 2021 – 2022 Regular Session<\/strong><\/p>\n

MEMORANDUM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Posted:<\/strong><\/td>\nDecember 2, 2020 04:02 PM<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
From:<\/strong><\/td>\nSenator Wayne D. Fontana<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
To:<\/strong><\/td>\nAll Senate members<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Subject:<\/strong><\/td>\nLegionnaires\u2019 Disease Prevention<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
 <\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As society starts to return to the workplace, one aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic many are not talking about is\u00a0the increase risk of the legionella bacteria growing in buildings.\u00a0 Legionnaires\u2019 disease is a serious type of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria which a person can contract by breathing in small droplets of\u00a0water containing the bacteria.\u00a0 These droplets often come from air conditioning units for buildings, cooling misters, decorative fountains, and plumbing systems.\u00a0 Outbreaks are most commonly associated with buildings that have complex water systems like those found in\u00a0large office buildings,\u00a0hotels, hospitals, long-term care facilities, casinos\u00a0and cruise ships.\u00a0\u00a0Often times, what allows this bacteria to start to grow is an extended period of\u00a0dormancy or\u00a0inactivity in such dwellings\u00a0as well as warm, humid, wet weather.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

According to the Centers for Disease Control, most people exposed to the Legionella bacteria do not\u00a0become ill or\u00a0develop Legionnaires\u2019 disease.\u00a0 However, people older than 50\u00a0and those with certain risk\u00a0factors including a history of smoking or a weakened immune system are more susceptible to the disease.\u00a0\u00a0Although\u00a0Legionnaires\u2019 disease can be treated successfully with antibiotics, about one in 10 people who get the disease will die from the infection.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For this reason I plan on reintroduce a version of SB 1285 from last session\u00a0that would require the owners and operators of certain buildings to take actions in order to prevent and control the Legionella bacteria.\u00a0\u00a0My bill would be similar to one being considered by the New Jersey General Assembly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Since 2000, the number of reported legionellosis cases has been increasing in both Pennsylvania and the United States overall.\u00a0\u00a0The commonwealth\u00a0had exceptionally high case counts in 2017, 2018, and 2019.\u00a0\u00a0Although the number of legionellosis cases has been low since COVID-19 arrived\u00a0here, the expectation is that the number of cases will begin to increase imminently\u00a0as businesses begin to reopen.\u00a0\u00a0Unlike the coronavirus, experts know how to prevent Legionnaires\u2019 disease and I hope you will join me in\u00a0averting a potential outbreak of this bacteria and disease.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senate of Pennsylvania Session of 2021 – 2022 Regular Session MEMORANDUM Posted: December 2, 2020 04:02 PM From: Senator Wayne D. Fontana To: All Senate members Subject: Legionnaires\u2019 Disease Prevention     As society starts to return to the workplace, one aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic many are not talking about is\u00a0the increase risk of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6,14,7,5,11,10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.linnflux.tech\/paawwa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14742"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.linnflux.tech\/paawwa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.linnflux.tech\/paawwa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.linnflux.tech\/paawwa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.linnflux.tech\/paawwa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14742"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dev.linnflux.tech\/paawwa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14743,"href":"https:\/\/dev.linnflux.tech\/paawwa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14742\/revisions\/14743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.linnflux.tech\/paawwa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.linnflux.tech\/paawwa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.linnflux.tech\/paawwa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}