Panic Over The Plague: Russians Are Stockpiling Antibiotics And Masks
11- 9.10.2026, 8:59
- 9,064
People do not trust statements made by the authorities or the propaganda.
Although the sudden death of 28-year-old Daria Shipilova, a lab technician at the Irkutsk Research Institute for Plague Control, caused concern around the world, residents of the quiet town of Shelekhov told CNN that they know little more than what is rapidly spreading online in the form of news and rumors.
The publication reported that six days after the first mention of the plague—and in the absence of official confirmation that Shipilova died of the plague—amid calls from the World Health Organization and the U.S. for additional information, the situation apparently sparked both despair and skepticism.
One 36-year-old resident, who identified herself to the publication simply as Evgenia, said that everything seems “normal, as if nothing had happened.”
She added that she isn’t giving in to panic. However, her friend, who works as a pharmacist, told her that people were stocking up on antibiotics when rumors of the plague began to circulate.
The article notes that the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Public Health and Consumer Rights (Rospotrebnadzor) stated that Shipilova died of pneumonia of “unknown” origin.
The agency dismissed suspicions that her illness was work-related but moved quickly to isolate those who had been in contact with her.
Although the Kremlin has repeatedly urged people to rely solely on the agency’s reports, Evgenia noted that most of her acquaintances do not trust official statements.
“There’s no official information, and we don’t trust it anyway. There are a lot of rumors going around, but what’s really happening remains unclear,” she added.
Ekaterina, 26, told the publication that she sees no reason for concern, since everyone who had contact with the lab employee has been quarantined.
“It’s the 21st century now, and there’s a treatment for the plague. It’s not the same as the coronavirus, which was something unknown to people. The outlook is much better. So, to sum up: everything is fine. We’re following safety measures and not giving in to this madness,” she said.
However, a pharmacist from Irkutsk, also named Ekaterina, said that on Saturday her pharmacy saw a rush for “masks, antiseptics, and tetracycline antibiotics,” and people were stocking up on them “just in case.”
“There’s no panic now. It lasted only one day. We’re not seeing that anymore. Everything is still quiet and calm,” she noted.
Another Russian woman, 38-year-old Alina, called this situation “a panic that has nothing to do with reality.”
However, an anonymous Russian doctor who gave an interview to the independent publication “People of Lake Baikal” did not believe the statement by the Russian health oversight agency that the laboratory employee’s illness was “not related to her professional activities”.
In particular, he explained that laboratory confirmation can take up to 10 days and expressed the opinion that it is impossible to definitively identify the pathogen just one day after the autopsy.
Yulia, 25, told the publication that people “aren’t surprised by anything anymore,” and added: “Information is always limited. I think this happens in every region.”
“An explosion is a loud noise. A recession is negative growth. A crash is a hard landing. A fire is smoke. A retreat is a gesture of goodwill. A plague is pneumonia of unknown origin… Anyone who contracts this pneumonia of unknown origin should wrap themselves in a sheet and crawl to the cemetery. But do it slowly, because the main thing is not to cause trouble for the authorities,” commented an Irkutsk resident on Telegram, using dark humor to describe the situation.
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