Pandemics Progress and Prejudice a Historians Perspective
[Music]
we are in a pandemic
and pandemics are something i know about
a public historian and
author i’ve researched and written about
pandemics
but this isn’t history this is now and
when
covet hit i was as unprepared as most
people
and yet uh people began to ask me
questions
how did st louis get through this in the
past how were things
different when it was all over
obviously we know such so much more now
than we did back then and that’s because
uh our ancestors had a will to survive
and a hope for a better life they
pivoted
they were motivated to change the world
and find answers and solutions
in january of 1849 the second
cholera pandemic reached st louis
and when it arrived st louis was
filthy and overcrowded it was
a jumble of pioneers preparing to head
west
it was irish immigrants escaping the
potato famine
and germans fleeing political turmoil in
europe
every day dozens of steamboats arrived
and from them people packed the unpaved
streets
which were a revolting mess of
mud and animal waste it was not a
pleasant place
colorado was the great scourge of the
19th century
and people were terrified of it
and that’s because they knew that if
they contracted it they had about a 50
50
chance of survival
imagine being the grigg family
they were irish immigrants who lived on
green street
near the light they endured
crippling poverty and open contempt
from many saint louises who viewed them
and most immigrants as
unwelcome strangers when
the pandemic hit their
already difficult life turned tragic
on june 19 1849
their eldest son thomas fell ill
and quickly died then
over the course of the next four days
cholera took each of their remaining
children
william nine richard seven benjamin
five and mary h4
finally on june 24th
margaret herself succumbed leaving only
her husband john
out of a family of seven cholera ravaged
the city
just like it did the great family and
in the end it took the lives of nearly
10
percent of st louis’s population of 80
000
but the griggs and thousands like them
were victims
of not just the disease but of the
conditions and
attitudes that fostered it
we cannot deny that the cholera pandemic
in st
louis was a horrifying event
but we cannot deny that the pandemic was
also a force of change
an impetus to improve life and
an engine of progress
today when people ask me questions they
are looking to the past for
reassurance and silver linings
i certainly don’t have all the answers
but i know this
we can look at history and see
that with the passing of each pandemic
the world has emerged in a much better
place
in 1849 a committee for public health
had
unprecedented powers to clean up the
city
they immediately enacted new public
health measures such as trash
removal services sanitation ordinances
and providing everyone
access to cleaner water
the committee then took another
important step when it
established a quarantine station on an
island
in the mississippi river on quarantine
island
a hospital complex was built and
steamboats were stopped and inspected
for cholera
when cases were discovered patients were
quarantined
thus of course reduced the number of
cases entering the city
and it lowered the mortality rate after
the pandemic
the committee continued to influence the
development of saint louis
chateau’s pond a dangerous reservoir of
polluted water that sat near the present
location of
union station was drained
new sewer systems were built and the
water supply system was upgraded
st louis changed for the better
however it wasn’t just st louis the
change
the cholera pandemic also changed the
world
over in london dr jon snow developed a
theory that cholera was linked to
contaminated water
he collected data and plotted colorist
cases
on a map to show their proximity to
wells
snow noted that the areas in the city
where the cholera deaths were highest
correlated to areas with polluted water
he convinced city officials to allow him
to
close a public water source by removing
a pump handle
and almost immediately cases began to
drop
it was later determined that that
particular pump was only three feet
from an old privy today snow is
considered the father of modern
epidemiology
his conclusions led scientists like
robert cope
towards research that verified that
bacteria caused disease
later others continued this line of
research and prove the existence of
viruses
and the discovery of penicillin
following the 1918
spanish flu candidate
everything i’ve described required
change
and people had to embrace that
and there are always those who oppose
change it was a problem in 1849
just as it is today and sadly for many
of the same reasons despite the passage
of 170 years
during the cholera pandemic defying
change for some was simply a refusal to
depart from old ways and practices
no matter how arcane they might have
been
fear and mistrust stemming from racism
and bigotry
also stood in the way of change many saw
the pandemic as a result
of personal behavior immigrants and free
persons of color were
seen as intemperate promiscuous dirty
and unintelligent
these attitudes influenced the way in
which some doctors advocated for new
preventive measures
when cholera first arrived in saint
louis some physicians
even pointed to the consumption of
sauerkraut
and beer as its cause
this eventually resulted in the pandemic
banning these foods
which furthered the belief that
immigrant communities were at the heart
of the epidemic
unfortunately today there are still
people trying to put a face on an
invisible enemy
racist attacks have risen as much as 40
percent
against members of the asian community
but some have accused
china of starting the pandering
furthermore
poverty and inequality still plague our
health care system
data shows that while african americans
comprise
just 13 of the american population
they’ve accounted for 30 of covet
victims
so 170 years may separate us from 1849
but
intolerance denial and ignorance based
on fear and misinformation
is still sadly alive and well so like
the virus itself these roadblocks must
be overcome
this is what i know
on history i have no doubt that science
and even greater medical advancements
will prevail
the question is will humanity follow
the answer is up to all of us but i
leave you with some hope that this
pandemic could lead towards an even
brighter future
a poll conducted in 13 countries across
the world
by the social progress imperative found
that
seven in ten people believe that after
this pandemic
government should focus on social
progress
over economic growth as a means of
improving the world
that’s a sign that people across the
planet are hoping for real change
so this time when this pandemic two
has passed perhaps both science
and meaningful social change will
prevail
thank you