‘Not like coronavirus’: Mystery shrouds death of Russian lab technician, some residents fear plague, others remain calm | Today’s news

While the death of 28-year-old Darya Shipilova, a Russian laboratory technician, remains shrouded in mystery, residents of Shelekhov — where Shipilova died in hospital on Friday — and the nearby cities of Irkutsk and Angarsk told CNN they distrust public reports.

Russian authorities blamed the Oct. 2 death of a woman identified by news sources as Darya Shipilova on “pneumonic plague,” which can spread from person to person. Shipilova was a laboratory technician at the Irkutsk Plague Research Institute.

Russian authorities keep information about the case strictly secret. The country’s state health and consumer watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said the woman contracted pneumonia of “unknown” origin and that she had tested negative for the pathogens she was working with.

The statement did not provide details on what exactly caused the woman’s pneumonia and what pathogens she was working with.

Irkutsk Governor Igor Kobzev said the woman had “community-acquired” pneumonia — a type of pneumonia contracted outside of a hospital setting, according to the AP. She was “vaccinated and immune” to the pathogens she worked with at the institute, he said.

“We don’t believe… There are a lot of rumours”

Six days after the news broke — and with no official confirmation that Shipilova had died of the plague, amid calls from the World Health Organization and the United States for more information — the situation appears to have sparked both resignation and skepticism, CNN reported.

One 36-year-old resident of Yevgenia told CNN that everything is “normal, as if nothing happened.” She said she was not panicking, but was told by a friend who works as a pharmacist that people were stocking up on antibiotics when rumors of the plague came out.

Despite the Kremlin repeatedly urging people to rely only on the agency’s updates, Yevgenia said most people she knows don’t trust public statements.

“There is no official information and we don’t believe it anyway. There are many rumors, but what is really happening remains unclear,” she said.

Additionally, an unnamed Russian doctor who spoke to independent news agency Ljudi Bajkal (“People of Baikal”), which led the way to cover the case, was unconvinced by the Russian health watchdog’s statement that the lab technician’s illness was “not related to her professional activities.”

Citing the need for laboratory confirmation, which takes up to 10 days, he was quoted as saying, “It is impossible to definitively identify the pathogen just one day after the autopsy.”

‘Things are not bad at all’

On the contrary, there were others who said, “Things are not bad at all.” Ekaterina, 26, told CNN she saw no cause for concern because everyone who had been in contact with the lab worker had been isolated.

“People don’t panic and go about their lives as usual,” she said.

“Now it’s the 21st century and there is a cure for the plague. It’s not like the coronavirus, which was something unknown to people. The prospects are much better. So, to sum it all up: Everything is fine. We’re following safety measures and not going crazy,” Ekaterina added.

Meanwhile, a pharmacist in Irkutsk said there was a competition for “masks, antiseptics and tetracycline antibiotics” where she worked on Saturday, with people stocking up “just in case”.

“Of course people were afraid of contagion,” the 27-year-old told CNN. “There is no panic now. It only lasted one day. We don’t see it anymore. Everything is still quiet and peaceful,” she added.

Alina, 38, told CNN that the situation is “ordinary” except that there is increasing awareness of the situation on social media platforms, which she dismissed as “panic and has nothing to do with reality”.

When the authorities came to disinfect

Residents of Ljudi Baikal said three vehicles pulled up to a residential building believed to be where the deceased Irkutsk lab worker lived on Friday evening.

They claimed that personnel in gas masks and orange suits emerged from vehicles carrying several containers and began disinfecting the entrances.

“The smell was unbearable and very pungent,” a resident of the building – a woman in her 40s – told the outlet.

The team that arrived reportedly told the residents that they had been sent by a health officer.

“We asked what happened. (The staff) told us: a young woman had died of a deadly virus, but they didn’t know anything else. They said, ‘We came to work, we were told to go and disinfect the place, so we came and did it,'” the woman said.

CNN or Mint could not independently verify the apartment building’s disinfection account.

“My daughter is not buried yet”

Svetlana Šipilová – who was also in quarantine at the Irkutsk hospital – told local media Glubina that her daughter had not yet been buried.

“After all, who would bury her while we’re sitting here in custody? She was such a hard worker. Pure, such a pure soul,” she said.