03/18/2020
An interesting article by Tim Killmeyer of the McKee Rocks Historical Society on the 1918 Spanish flu
I have been researching the Spanish Flu and its effects on Pittsburgh on-and-off for some time. What I am learning is that cities like Pittsburgh suffered the most due to the poor air quality and the people already being predisposed to lung infection. I have to find the statistic, but I do remember reading that Pittsburgh was one of the heaviest hit cities in the United States due to our mills polluting the air 24/7. We might even have been number one. Regardless, there was a high mortality rate in this area.
Last time, I posted some pics of the Cross in Armstrong County. Today, I am posting pictures from St. Mary’s in McKee’s Rocks. McKee’s Rocks was heavily populated by Eastern European, Russian, and Italian immigrants at this time, as you will see by the stones. As the flu ramped up during the early fall of 1918, cemeteries couldn’t put people in the ground fast enough. Some devoted entire sections, like this one to bury the victims.
Before anyone panics and thinks this is what is going to happen today, I seriously doubt it. While we are following protocol that they did back then like Social Distancing, quarantining, and closing of non-essential businesses, we are not fighting a World War. During 1918/1919 there was a shortage of doctors and nurses here in the United States due to their participation in the war effort. Also, one of the places most heavily hit in 1918/19 were military training camps. Which had high mortality rates. None of these factors exist today. Also, the virus is different. The Spanish Flu had a pension of killing the young and healthy which isn’t typical. To this day we don’t know why. COVOD-19 seems to be following the path of a normal virus where the mortality rate is higher in the elderly and in smokers (again, see predisposition to lung infection, also see Italy).
See Mckee Rocks historical Society's page for more detail
