WELCOME BACK MY FRIENDS, TO THE PANDEMIC* THAT NEVER ENDS: The Russian Plague.
Some observers scoff at the broken test tube narrative. Given that the incident occurred at a Russian laboratory, no one trusts official assurances. Other employees at the Institute are being quarantined, and countries bordering the Irkutsk region have tried to seal their borders.
Many have noted the obvious parallels to the covid epidemic of a few years ago.
Referring to the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, Nezygar, an influential Russian Telegram channel, wrote: “The situation in Shelekhov, Irkutsk region, where a plague quarantine has been declared, resembles the Wuhan case.”
Except that the plague is orders of magnitude worse than covid, a coronavirus that by now has become one of several strains of the common cold:
Pneumonic plague, the strain that Shipilova is suspected to have died from, is transmitted through respiratory droplets. It has a fatality rate of 41 per cent, making it many times deadlier than coronavirus, which has an estimated fatality rate of under 0.01 per cent for healthy middle-aged adults in Britain.
One can only imagine the hysteria that will reign if pneumonic plague really does begin to spread. The disease is easily treated with antibiotics, but only if it is diagnosed immediately, which may not happen as it resembles milder diseases like influenza in its early stages.
* Or is it?
None of this means the Irkutsk pathogen will cause a pandemic.
But the response clearly indicates that Russia believes an epidemic is possible – and that the responsible agent is likely a pandemic weapon or otherwise embarrassing for the government.
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— Kevin Esvelt (@kesvelt) October 5, 2026