When Did Rick Snyder Learn About Legionnaire’s in Flint?

According to newly revealed emails, an aide to Governor Rick Snyder learned nine months ago of an outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease tied to Flint’s water supply.

Flint residents had been complaining about their water all along, saying it was discolored and caused rashes, but Wurfel told Hollins the lower-ranking official who’d raised the Legionnaires’ issue was out of line.

The city began getting corrosive water from the river in 2014 while under the control of a Snyder-appointed emergency manager, who approved the move to help the financially struggling city shore up its finances. “He’s made the leap formally in his email that the uptick in cases is directly attributable to the river as drinking source – this is beyond irresponsible, given that is his department that has failed to do the necessary traceback work to provide any conclusive evidence of where the outbreak is sourced, and it also flies in the face of the very thing a drinking water system is created to do”.

During the outbreak, roughly 87 cases of Legionnaires’ disease were reported locally, and more than a dozen of the cases were treated at McLaren Flint.

In Washington, Senate Democrats teamed up with a band of Republicans on Thursday to block a wide-ranging US energy bill in a fight over aid to help Flint cope with the drinking water crisis. “More than all the cases reported in the last five years or more combined”.

Before it ‘fessed up to not ensuring correct water treatment in October, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality assured the governor’s office and the public the lead issue wasn’t serious.

Wurfel and agency Director Dan Wyant both resigned in December.

Gov. Rick Snyder is seeking an economic disaster declaration from the U.S. Small Business Administration for Flint and Genesee County as the city struggles with lead-tainted water.

“Fifty-seven percent of Flint is African American”, said Virgie Rollins, chair of the Democratic National Committee Black Caucus in a January press conference.

Individuals can contract the disease from inhaling mist or vapor from water infrastructure and cooling systems that have been contaminated with Legionella bacteria, which thrives in warm water. “The more I read and learn about this, the angrier I get”.

The state said it cannot conclude that the Legionnaires’ surge is related to the water switch, nor can it rule it out, in part because of too few case specimens from patients.

“The fact that they potentially ignored information about people dying as a result of the switch is beyond comprehension”, said Scott in a statement.

The first wave of 45 cases was commonly known within the state health department, Wells said, but the agency did not take the information to the governor until confirming a second wave of 42 cases and analyzing them together.