The day after the Sheraton Atlanta was cleared to reopen, CBS46 checked into the hotel.
…The Georgia Department of Public Health said legionella bacteria was found in the hotel’s cooling tower and in a fountain near the pool.
We called Dr. Janet Stout, an expert in legionella remediation, who said legionella is naturally found in some water systems.
“It isn’t until it gets into our buildings and water systems where there’s a combination of temperatures from bodies, temperatures from nutrients, and other bacteria, that it actually grows to numbers that are of concern.”
The Sheraton hotel’s legionella outbreak claimed one life and sickened plenty of others.
The Sheraton Atlanta General Manager, Ken Peduzzi, agreed to answer our questions off camera. He said remediation included cleaning water lines with high amounts of chlorine, tested every four hours. He said the process involved environmentalists, epidemiologists and outside labs.
Dr. Stout said that sounded about right.
(Excerpt from CBS46)