Grace Diviny, Staff Writer
On October 3rd, Darya Shipilova, a 28-year-old lab worker for Irkutsk Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East, passed away from pneumonia in which its determined origins were unknown, according to regional governor Igor Kobsev. As a result officials placed at least over 200 people who were in contact with Shipilova under medical observation, alongside quarantining one hospital staff member. More concerns were raised when media reports stated that a second employee at the lab also developed an unknown cause of pneumonia, but according to officials at the World Health Organization as of October 7th that has not been confirmed. The case was also denied by Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s consumer protection and public health service. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Rospotrebnadzor was the main company handling the investigation into the plague case when asked about the president’s knowledge of the situation.
“It is their official statements that should be relied upon rather than paying heed to various rumors, speculations and the like,” Peskov said in a statement to NBC reporters in Moscow. “Rospotrebnadzor employs highly qualified professionals in this field, so let us heed their official statements.”
Dr. Ashish Jha, a former, COVID response coordinator for the White House, especially weighed in on the issue and stated that more information was needed from Russian officials at the current moment. However, he reassured that the possibility of a global plague is low, and that it is very hard for something such as the pneumonic plague to spread person to person.
“We may see a few more people get infected, but the chances that this becomes a larger outbreak, let alone a global pandemic, is exceedingly low,” Jha said about the idea of a global spread happening, with him giving what his actual main concern would be in this situation. “If there were weapons programs, biological weapons programs in these labs, that would be much more concerning to me.”
Other state officials, such as Marco Rubio, said that despite low travel from the U.S. to Russia, there is a major possibility for something such as the plague to spread quickly and that the U.S. is currently monitoring the situation closely. “I don’t think it’s cause for alarm, but it is cause for focus and a cause just to keep an eye on it.” Rubio stated in an interview on October 5th.
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