moscow —
When the Siberian town of Sherekhov became the center of global headlines over a plague scare, residents may have wanted to have the most information.
But Russians have long been accustomed to living with unanswered questions and unclear governance. So while the sudden death of Darya Shipilova, 28, a research technician at the Irkutsk Institute for Anti-Epidemic Research, has sparked concern around the world, residents of the sleepy town 19 miles southwest of Irkutsk told CNN they only know about news and rumors that spread quickly online.
Six days after the news broke, amid calls for more information from the World Health Organization and the United States, there was no official confirmation that Shipilova had died from the plague, a situation that appears to have provoked both resignation and skepticism.
One 36-year-old resident, who gave her name only as Evgeniya, told CNN that everything “feels normal, like nothing happened.” She said she wasn’t panicking, but heard from a friend who works as a pharmacist that people were stocking up on antibiotics when rumors of the plague got out.
Russia’s health and consumer watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said in a statement that Shipilova died of “unexplained” pneumonia. The agency downplayed allegations that her illness was work-related, but hastened to isolate her contacts.
Russia has kept the information closely secret, but CNN spoke to residents of Shelekhov (where Shpilova died in hospital Friday) and the nearby cities of Irkutsk and Angarsk and examined official and unofficial media reports for clues about the events of the past few days, which Russia has kept closely secret. The local resident asked to be identified only by his first name for privacy reasons.
Despite the Kremlin repeatedly urging people to rely only on the latest information from government agencies, most of Evgeniya’s acquaintances said they did not trust official statements.
“There is no official information and I don’t trust it anyway. There are various rumors, but what is actually happening remains unclear,” she added.
Some expressed more confidence in the official explanation.
Ekaterina, 26, told CNN that “the situation is not bad at all” for her. He also said there is no need to worry as everyone who came into contact with the laboratory worker has been quarantined.
“People are not giving in to panic and are continuing to live their lives as normal,” she said.
“This is the 21st century and there is a cure for the plague. This is different from the coronavirus, which was unknown to people. The outlook is much better. So, in conclusion, everything is fine. We are taking safety measures and have not succumbed to madness,” Ekaterina added.
That said, a pharmacist named Ekaterina, also from Irkutsk, told CNN that her workplace had a shortage of “masks, disinfectants, and tetracycline antibiotics” on Saturday, and people were stocking up “just in case.”
“Of course people were afraid of getting infected,” said the 27-year-old. “There is no panic now. It only lasted one day. I don’t see any panic anymore. Everything is just as calm and calm.”
Arena, 38, told CNN that the situation is “normal” apart from increasing coverage of the situation across social media platforms, which he dismissed as “panic and nothing to do with reality.”
However, an anonymous Russian clinician who spoke to the independent media outlet Lyudi Baikala (‘People of Baikal’), which has been leading coverage of the incident, was not convinced by the Russian health watchdog’s statement that the examiner’s illness was “unrelated to his professional activities.”
“It is impossible to definitively identify the pathogen just one day after autopsy,” he said, noting that laboratory confirmation can take up to 10 days.
Residents quoted in the Ludi Baikala newspaper explained the measures taken by the authorities to reduce the spread of the unknown infectious disease. They said that on Friday night, three cars stopped at an apartment complex in Irkutsk where the deceased researcher was believed to have lived. Officials wearing gas masks and orange suits emerged from a vehicle carrying multiple containers and began disinfecting the entrance.
“The smell was unbearable and very pungent,” a resident of the building, a woman in her 40s, told the publication.
When the team arrived, they told residents that they were sent by a health surveillance team. “We asked what happened. They (staff) told us: A young woman had died of a deadly virus, but other than that they didn’t know anything. They said, ‘We came to work and were told to go and disinfect the place, so we came and disinfected,'” the woman said. CNN cannot independently verify the account regarding the disinfection of the apartment.
One of the voices highlighting the human tragedy behind the global headlines was that of the mother of the young researcher who died. Svetlana Shipilova, who was isolated in an Irkutsk hospital, also told local media outlet Grbina that her daughter had not yet been buried.
“After all, who would bury her when we are detained here? She was a very hard worker. She was very pure, a very pure soul,” she said.
Ordinary Russians have shown resilience in the face of pressure and often express resignation to state-driven narratives that are part of a survival mindset, rather than tacit support.
Yulia, 25, told CNN that people “are no longer surprised by anything,” adding: “Information is always limited, and I think that’s the case everywhere.”
A resident of Irkutsk, who responded to the report on Telegram, explained with dark humor how Russians perceive the euphemism of the official statement.
“An explosion is an explosion. A recession is negative growth. A crash is a hard landing. A fire is smoke. A withdrawal is a sign of goodwill,” he said.
“The plague is a pneumonia of unknown origin… Anyone infected with this pneumonia of unknown origin should wrap himself in a sheet and crawl to the cemetery. But do it slowly, because it is important not to cause problems for the authorities.”
