Correction on Pa. Flu Deaths

To the Editor:

Reluctant as I am to find fault with columnist Linda Williams, your copy editor, and most of all publisher emeritus (and my friend and former employer) Dave Snyder, I must point out the error in Ms. Williams' column published Aug. 27 (“Another Bump in the Road,” Page A4).

The death toll in Pennsylvania during the 1918 flu pandemic was not 600,000. The total nationwide was about 675,000. Deaths in the commonwealth totaled something over 60,000 (source: https://archives.upenn.edu/exhibits/penn-history/flu).

That's still a staggering loss of life out of a population of about 8,524,000, but not as dire as the figure in the column, which would have amounted to about seven percent, or one of every 14 Pennsylvanians, perishing.

William Ziegler

Harrisburg, Pa.

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Mr. Zeigler for this correction and his deft handling of it.

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