Hot tub expo returning to NC ag center months after deadly Legionnaires’ outbreak
A North Carolina agricultural center is hosting a dry hot tub expo this weekend — six months after hot tubs at a fair held there likely caused a deadly Legionnaires’ outbreak.
The outbreak sickened more than 130 and killed four people who attended the North Carolina Mountain State Fair hosted at the Western North Carolina Agricultural Center in Fletcher last fall, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.
The fatal lung disease, caused by breathing in droplets of water that contain Legionella, was linked to a hot tub display at the fair, which ran from Sept. 6-15, McClatchy News reported in October.
Legionella were found in a water sample taken at the event center, suggesting “low levels” of the bacteria were “present and able to grow” in the hot tubs.
Now the agricultural center is planning to host a hot tub expo — this time a dry one.
The expo, the Hot Tub & Swim Spa Blowout Expo, will be held in the center’s expo building from March 6-8, according to the center’s website. The display will include more than 50 hot tubs.
But none will have water in them, Paul Jones, a spokesperson for the center, told McClatchy News.
Matt Buchanan, the center’s director, told the Asheville Citizen Times that attendees should be “confident in their safety” since no water is involved.
“You take that out, there’s no danger of Legionnaires’,” he told the Citizen Times.
This story was originally published March 5, 2020 at 4:01 PM with the headline "Hot tub expo returning to NC ag center months after deadly Legionnaires’ outbreak."
