I personally believe it was a leaker / mole trap and the printed news is wrong, but we will know for sure before the day is over.
This theory seems plausible based on other articles such as this one from June 11, 2020.
By Andy Meek @aemeek
June 11th, 2020 at 10:12 PM
A new unfortunate cost associated with the coronavirus lockdowns has emerged, with experts pointing to an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease as being a byproduct of the lockdowns that were implemented in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.
For a variety of reasons, this disease thrives in places like abandoned office buildings, which emptied out quickly as everyone started working from home.
This is why judging the lockdowns is not so simple as calling them good or bad — researchers have also found that they spared the US from many millions of more coronavirus cases, as well.
The gradual reversal of coronavirus lockdowns and an easing of other safety measures implemented at businesses and in cities and states around the US is well underway now, even as the toll from the COVID-19 pandemic continues to climb in the US. Indeed, more than 2 million coronavirus infections have now been identified in the US as of Thursday, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University (which also shows that more than 113,000 reported deaths in the US have been attributable to the coronavirus to-date). Everyone is now trying to figure out how to reopen safely and learn how to “live” with the virus, essentially. Additionally, we’re also starting to get retroactive analysis of the lockdowns, trying to decide if they were worth it and to what degree they did the job.
A number of governors around the country, for example, think there’s no political appetite anymore for the kinds of draconian, near-absolute shutdowns of communities around the US, even with coronavirus cases on the rise. At the same time, researchers from the University of Berkley have analyzed the coronavirus responses of six countries, including China, France, Italy, Iran, South Korea, and the US, and they concluded that the health policies the governments implemented to prevent COVID-19 transmission were able to control the spread to a degree and prevent additional infections. In the US alone, the researchers think the coronavirus lockdowns prevented 60 million extra cases of the virus. Meanwhile, here’s yet another reason why it’s a little difficult to quantify the value of the lockdowns, on balance.
Once the lockdowns were implemented, lots of facilities like office buildings emptied out. And that, according to one health expert, has allowed Legionnaires’ disease to thrive — which, ironically, has symptoms similar to those associated with COVID-19. Both, for example, are associated with fever, dry cough, and shortness of breath, to name a few symptoms.
“Legionnaires’ does not spread from person-to-person but causes large community outbreaks through contaminated airborne water droplets from sources including showerheads, taps, cooling towers, air-conditioning systems, spa pools, hot tubs, and water fountains,” according to Anne Clayson, associate professor in occupational hygiene and occupational health at the University of Manchester, per Medical Daily.
This is why the lockdowns contributed to this unexpected outbreak: The Medical Daily news outlet also explains that L. pneumophila ordinarily live in warm environments and feed on “pipework sludge and sediment.” And when you have a long stretch of inactivity in a building, that’s a great environment in which the bacteria can breed — and, eventually, contaminate water systems.
To combat this, Clayson says that public and private officials should require a comprehensive assessment of water systems everywhere from offices to schools and factories in order to reduce the risks associated with this new disease outbreak.
https://bgr.com/2020/06/11/coronavirus-lockdowns-caused-legionnaires-disease-outbreak-covid-19/
>>10796815 (me)
Found another article from April 29, 2020.
This seems to be something they are aware of, but aren't telling people.
Schools face Legionnaires' risk if no opening notice
Schools must be given time to prepare for reopening to protect pupils and staff against infections such as Legionnaires' disease that can proliferate in dormant buildings, teachers have warned.
Thousands of schools could all be "desperately trying" to hire water treatment specialists at the same time before they reopen to guard against an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease unless they are given sufficient time to plan for reopening, according to the NASUWT teaching union.
General secretary Patrick Roach, who last week spelled out five conditions that needed to be met before schools could reopen, questioned whether the Department for Education understood the practicalities surrounding flushing out school water systems.
He said: “Schools have got to be fully ready to be reopened and if that means flushing the water systems to make sure we’re not poisoning children or adults with Legionella [the bacterium that causes Legionnaires' disease], or whatever it happens to be, that has to take place.”
He added: “The government has issued some guidance about managing school premises in relation to any opening and they have talked about the importance of flushing systems, but does the government appreciate the practicalities of that?
moar here -
https://www.tes.com/news/schools-face-legionnaires-risk-if-no-opening-notice
maybe we should try to find more of these and make a mini bun?
>>10796815 (me)
Here is a newer one from August 28, 2020.
Great, another thing for worried parents to worry about in Fall, 2020. The pathogen that causes Legionnaire's Disease has been found in the water at some schools reopening after long Covid-19 lockdowns.
"Legionella could lurk in the water supplies of school buildings, and some measures to keep people in schools safe from coronavirus may even increase risks from deadly illnesses caused by the bacteria," reports Max Horberry at the New York Times:
Last week in Ohio, officials found Legionella at five schools in an assortment of towns. On Friday, a district in Pennsylvania also announced it had found Legionella at four of its schools.
"It is unusual to hear about nine schools in a one-week period having a detection of Legionella," said Andrew Whelton, an associate professor of civil, environmental and ecological engineering at Purdue University in Indiana who has been studying the effects of lockdown on water systems. He said that more schools may be testing for the bacteria than in a typical year.
Legionella, usually Legionella pneumophila, is the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease, a respiratory condition. It can form in stagnant water and then disperse through the air and be inhaled when, for example, a shower or tap is turned on. It can be fatal in one in 10 cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although young children are less at risk of Legionnaires', older students, adults and people with compromised immune systems are vulnerable.
moar here -
https://boingboing.net/2020/08/28/legionnaires-disease-pathoge.html