1918 - The Great Flu Epidemic
It began quietly enough. A few head colds. An isolated case of influenza here and there throughout Paintsville and Johnson County in the early fall of 1918. The Great War was still raging in Europe and, locally, the Johnson County Fair had just concluded.
By the first few days of October, however, local physicians and the county's health department were becoming alarmed. Not only were more and more people coming down with the flu but some deaths had been reported. This was apparently an especially virulent strain of influenza. It was eventually identified as "Spanish" influenza. The virus was not restricted to Johnson County and Eastern Kentucky but was afflicting many parts of the nation.
The Paintsville Herald could report on October 17, 1918, that Johnson County was faring better than many of its neighboring counties. Only two deaths from flu had been reported in Paintsville. However, more than 100 cases had been reported in Johnson County. Consequently, the Johnson County Health Department banned all group gatherings. Churches, theaters and schools were closed. Banks shortened their daily banking hours to just three hours a day. The Southern Bell Telephone office in Paintsville handled telephone traffic for the Prestonsburg office due to so many sick employees.
The newspaper reported, far too optimistically, that "all the doctors of the town and county are riding day and night, and have the matter well in hand."
In an effort to make every possible bit of preventive information available to the public, it was also reported that a leading physician in Georgia recommended that placing a little sulphur in one's shoes each day "is a positive preventative for Spanish influenza."
In spite of such remedies, however, the disease spread.
One local physician reported visiting several homes in Van Lear one night and returning the next morning to find entire families had died overnight. The epidemic was so wide spread in Van Lear that an emergency hospital was established with physicians from Huntington and Lexington. By the third week in October more than 400 cases were reported in Van Lear alone.
Although no precise figures are available, the Great Flu Epidemic is believed to have killed almost 50 people in Johnson County in 1918.
By mid-November the worst was over and families in Paintsville, Van Lear and throughout Johnson County could look forward to Thanksgiving with truly thankful hearts.
