The 1918 Influenza Pandemic

Learn more about the startlingly destructive 1918 Influenza Pandemic, the deadliest disease in human history, killing more people in a shorter period of time than any disease before or since. The most commonly accepted estimates of the number of deaths range between 20-60 million victims.

This presentation will summarize the arrival, spread, and impact of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic in Western Pennsylvania and touch on similiaries with today's Covid-19 pandemic. By the autumn of 1918 the disease arrived in Pennsylvania with a vengeance. There were over 500,000 Pennsylvanians infected by the disease and over 50,000 deaths in PA. Read a bit about that in a recent Trib article: 2 Years into Covid-19, WCCC Professor to Discuss Similarities with 1918 Pandemic.

Dr. Thomas Soltis has been employed by Westmoreland County Community College since 1990. He teaches courses in Sociology and Anthropology. He won the Westmoreland County Community College “Outstanding Teacher Award” in 2001 and again in 2016. Based on Dr. Soltis’ work on this topic, the Westmoreland County Commissioners have declared October as ‘1918 Influenza Pandemic Remembrance Month’. Dr. Soltis’ book, An Unwelcome Visit From the Spanish Lady: The 1918 Influenza Pandemic in Western Pennsylvania was published in 2019.