A thread from MIT biosecurity researcher Kevin Esvelt arguing that Russia's response to a suspected plague death doesn't match a routine lab accident drew a wave of reaction from prominent scientists and physicians Monday.
Russian authorities have been responding since late September to the death of a 28-year-old lab technician at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East. Nearly 200 people were placed under medical observation, according to The Moscow Times.
Esvelt wrote that the scale of the response is "inconsistent with a lab-acquired plague infection, which would have been treated with prophylactic antibiotics," citing quarantines across several hospitals, reported FSB involvement, and hazmat use. He added that Russian authorities "have surely sequenced the Irkutsk pathogen, but refuse to identify it," and said a physical lockdown implies either engineered pan-resistance or that the pathogen is not plague at all.
He also wrote that none of it means a pandemic is coming.
Russian officials have confirmed none of that. Rospotrebnadzor says the worker was diagnosed with pneumonia of unknown origin, that expanded testing found no microorganisms linked to her work, and that no accident occurred at the institute. The World Health Organization says no cause of death has been officially confirmed. RFE/RL reported there is no public evidence the lab was developing plague as a weapon, and that Russia says such facilities are defensive.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday the reports were not cause for alarm, but "for focus."
Even so, Esvelt's thread sent the internet into a frenzy.
Ashish Jha, the former White House COVID-19 response coordinator, vouched for Esvelt as one of the smartest people in the world on engineered pathogens: "Kevin's tweets are worth your time."
Mathematical biologist Alex Washburne called him a "biodefense brother from another mother."
Physician Brian Goldman had a message for skeptics: "To the pooh-poohers, read this."
Journalist Annie Jacobsen, who writes on national security, simply wrote one word: "This."
Activist Drew Pavlou, who is not a scientist, went furthest, writing that there is a "disturbingly high possibility" the outbreak is an escaped pandemic weapon and calling for Russia's borders to be sealed.
And environmental justice advocate Jay C. Ford reacted, "New nightmare fuel just dropped."