An estimated 50 million died worldwide to the outbreak
As Covid-19 was a brand new thing for Pendleton County, Kentucky, United States and the world, we kept hearing about the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak and the millions that it killed. The question arose on how did it affect Pendleton County. Fran Carr was the perfect person to research, write and inform about what it actually meant for Pendleton County in 1918.
The judge said, "Well written and thought provoking. Kept me interested and informed throughout. Well done."
With all the talk of the 2020 Coronavirus (COVID-19) surrounding us, we can look back to the 1918 Spanish Influenza and see similarities and maybe some differences. That is, in how we, as a county, have handled them both. But first, a little background information.
The influenza pandemic of 1918 killed more people than died in WWI, which was being fought in Europe at the same time (1917-1919). The War claimed an estimated 16 million lives. The Spanish Influenza claimed an estimated 20-100 million people world-wide, depending on the source you review. Several sources this writer looked at reported 50 million as an accurate figure.
Compared with other epidemics, the 1918 Influenza epidemic is thought to have killed the most people in the shortest amount of time. It was rapidly spread by a world at war. Ships transporting troops provided a huge opportunity for young men to contract the virus. The war itself fostered the spread through crowded camps and in the close contact between men fighting in the trenches. The virus traveled with the men, from camp to camp, home on furlough, from battle to battle, and across the ocean.
At the height of U.S. involvement in the war, September through November 1918, influenza and pneumonia had affected between 20% and 40% of all U.S. Army and Navy personnel. Nearly 26% of the Army contracted the flu and almost 30,000 died from it without ever leaving U.S. soil.
This flu strain was named the Spanish Influenza because it was believed to have started in Spain where as many as eight million died from it. However, it is now thought that this strain of the flu originated in the United States.
The Spanish Influenza emerged in two phases. The first phase came late in the spring of 1918. Based on deaths reported in the Falmouth Outlook during the first half of the year, there were no deaths blamed on the Spanish Flu.
The second phase came in August of 1918. This phase hung around and was reported in The Falmouth Outlook through community news and obituaries.
Young adults were hit the hardest, along with the elderly and the very young. Usually young adults were considered healthy and usually they didn’t die from influenza. Mortality was high in people younger than five years old, 20-40 year olds, and the over 65 age group.
On October 7, the Board of Health met and their declaration was published in the 11 Oct 1918 edition of The Falmouth Outlook. It read, “… that owing to the prevalence of a wide spread epidemic of the Spanish Influenza, or Grip and to the fact that a number of cases of this disease have occurred throughout the county, and that the spread of the disease may be arrested as far as possible, it is hereby ordered that all places of public assembly in Pendleton County be closed for a period to be determined by the Board of Health. This order to include all Sabbath Schools, public school, churches, conventions, lodges, show, and pool rooms ….”
The first mention of death from the flu in The Falmouth Outlook appeared in the 18 Oct 1918 edition. Among the deaths were two young soldiers, Marion Clemons and Alva Record, from Pendleton County stationed at Fort Meade, Maryland and Camp Taylor in Louisville, respectively. Four soldiers from Harrison County were also reported as having died from the flu.
In all, there were eight obituaries for Pendleton Countians dying from the flu during that week. They were all in the 20-40 year old age range.
Community News columns printed in the paper on the same date indicated that the flu was worse in some areas of the county than in others. The railroad section at Hayes Station was affected, with four workers sick. No new cases were reported at Roanoke and that those with it were improving. The school at Roanoke had closed due to the Spanish Influenza, however.
An area in Pendleton County known as Sandy Island reported in their Community News column that they didn’t have any new cases but that Willie Hall had contracted a “very bad case” of it.
News columns from surrounding counties posted similar news. Grant County seemed to be hit hard by the virus. These same community columns also reported birthday celebrations, visits with neighbors, trips out of state, and travel to cities north and south of Falmouth.
Alas, the “snake oil” salesmen were out there to “help”. The 18 Oct 1918 paper ran an ad from J.U. Riggle of 204 Shelby St. Falmouth, KY, that read, “The Spanish Influenza is spreading all over the country and becoming an epidemic, and is being followed by pneumonia.” (Truth. Every bit of it.) To be prepared to meet the disease, use Indian Herbs, to keep your system in a heathy condition to meet the epidemic, and if you should be attacked use Pe-Te-Ce-Ve, and a counter irritant… rest up a few days and you will be over the trouble.” Snake oil. It was available at 50 cents and $1.00 a bottle while the herbs were $1.00 per box.
In the paper dated 8 Nov 1918, the city schools reported that their teachers would be paid for the time off. In a column next to it, the Lexington tobacco market was scheduled to open on December 3 and that if “all conditions are favorable” the Falmouth market would open the next week.
Finally in the 22 Nov 1918 edition of The Falmouth Outlook, the local Board of Health was given the power, by the State Board of Health, to control the local quarantine. Dr. H.C. Clark, Pendleton County Health Officer, recommended to the people that they close the churches, schools, and public gatherings, in the sections of the county where the epidemic was spreading. He reported forty-seven new cases and reminded the citizenry that the law stipulated a placard labeled “influenza” placed on the home where a case existed.
During the current pandemic, we also find ourselves with closed schools and churches. Social events have been canceled; sporting events for us, lodge meetings for them. Employers are letting us work from home and some paying us even if we can’t work from home. We have unemployment insurance available that wasn’t in place in 1918. The Falmouth teachers were paid. Many others still went to work and probably a majority worked at home, on their farms.
We, too, have been given “snake oil” treatments to help cure us or prevent us from getting COVID-19. There are salt-water mouth rinses and vinegar solution mouth rinses, and more being touted as credible homeopathic remedies.
There are family stories circulating that have been passed down which indicate neighbors helped neighbors during the Spanish Influenza epidemic. They brought food to the sick, nursed them back to health, and tended livestock.
In our community we already see evidence of this through church outreach programs, restaurants delivering food to parts of the county they never ventured into before, and people texting and calling to check on each other. As with the Spanish Influenza, this epidemic has the potential to bring out the best in all of us. How we respond is up to us.