Update - 12/30/24:
All three buildings affected, including Baltimore City Hall, the Abel Wolman Municipal Building, and Benton Building have been reopened for full service.
According to the Mayor's Office, "Mitigation efforts, including flushing and chlorination treatments, were successfully completed in all three buildings over the weekend."
"Friday’s closure was caused by the intrusive nature of the mitigation efforts, not due to any public health or safety concern," the Mayor's office added.
Original Story:
Baltimore's City Hall and two other downtown government buildings will close early Friday, after some elevated levels of legionella bacteria were found.
The news comes a week after legionella temporarily shut down the circuit courthouses, and State Center, for cleaning.
RELATED | State Center building showed slightly elevated numbers of legionella in water
The city found elevated legionella levels at City Hall and the Abel Wolman Municipal Building, according to a press release sent this afternoon.
The Benton Building, at 410 E. Fayette Street, was also tested, and will be cleaned out over the weekend, even though the results for that building have not come back yet.
The city says the cleaning and mitigation is being done out of an abundance of caution, as there have been no confirmed cases of Legionnaires' disease.
Legionnaire's disease is a lung infection that can become serious. It's mostly spread by breathing in contaminated water mist or vapor.
The city says that the public works department has also been testing for presence of legionella, out of an abundance of caution. The tests so far have not detected any high levels.
