00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Tuesday, October 6th. Don't have enough on your plate to worry about? Now, the plague is being talked about. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. I was still trying to get a handle, Robes, on AI destroying all of humanity here in the next few years. But now, Robes, there's a headline... And a story of great concern, actually, about the plague. Rose, what is happening in the world?
00:00:34
Speaker 2: Well, this is deeply concerning because it's coming from a country, once again, that you cannot trust information coming out of. We're talking about Russia. And a researcher, a 28-year-old lab researcher... who was studying dangerous pathogens, specifically the pneumonic plague, she suddenly dies, and we're hearing that her official cause of death is severe pneumonia.
00:01:06
Speaker 1: Okay, well, did you know there was a lab anywhere in the world called the Anti-Plague Lab? Because I wasn't aware that this thing was out there.
00:01:15
Speaker 2: No, and maybe you'd feel like it's safe because that lab is in Siberia, which is.
00:01:21
Speaker 1: Middle of nowhere.
00:01:22
Speaker 2: Middle of nowhere, but wasn't Wuhan also really far away, too?
00:01:27
Speaker 1: This is actually, Ropes, I'm not sure how many miles, but the place where this lab is is just north of Mongolia. You get through Mongolia, you get further south, and you can start running to some familiar Asian countries. Now, Robes, this is, we said the plague. Robes, the plague. I'm still, right, you're getting a handle on Ebola. Sounds really, really awful, but it still seems so far away. Robes, the plague is not something we talk about often.
00:01:56
Speaker 2: No, because it happened last time we are aware of in the mid-1300s. So it's pretty far in our world's history. However, it killed an estimated 25 to 50 million people.
00:02:12
Speaker 1: This thing, yeah, back in the day wiped out. Several of these pandemics are historic in nature. We think we lost. And again, COVID was awful. But we don't know anything about losing 25, 30 people. 40, 50 million people in one pandemic. This is what this thing, or at least plague, has taken out before.
00:02:33
Speaker 2: Exactly. And it was referred to back in the day as the Black Death. And look, we still see poetry and songs. We sing, I was even saying, he isn't Ring Around the Roses, Pocket Full of Posies, Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down. Isn't that some song that children sang because there was so much death around them that they were given little nursery rhymes to sing about it that's how pervasive this thing was and so yes to hear The plague mentioned in modern times should be beyond frightening. And by the way, that was the bubonic plague. This is the pneumonic plague. And apparently, the pneumonic plague is the rarest and deadliest form.
00:03:19
Speaker 1: Of the plague. So not only is plague, the one we're dealing with is the worst. It's the worst possible plague ever.
00:03:25
Speaker 2: Known to man.
00:03:27
Speaker 1: Isn't that the thing with Ebola now, which is still raging in a historic way? Robes, the strain they have there is the rarest and the most deadly one that they have no treatment for. So here we go talking about this. And yes, even though folks, we were talking about one death, because there are so many questions surrounding this lab, how this young woman died, what she died of, Robes, and right now they are monitoring at least 200 people. So Robes, they are taking this very seriously. And there is a bunch of very serious questions about this.
00:04:00
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Because the pneumonic plague, unlike the bubonic plague, can be transmitted from person to person. And it's described as highly contagious. So, yes, we hear all of these things. We hear that up to 200 people are being observed and at least five facilities in the area are under quarantine. But in the same breath, we're being told nothing to see here. And we're hearing Russians and the Kremlin and Russian media downplaying this, but it all came up with initial reports saying that this young woman, she's 28 years old. I should say she was 28 years old. The initial reports was that she broke a test tube and that that may be the root cause of her death. Now we're hearing from the Kremlin.
00:04:49
Speaker 1: No, no, no.
00:04:50
Speaker 2: Those were just rumors. But it was widely reported initially, so we don't know what actually happened and where the truth actually lies.
00:04:58
Speaker 1: It's got to lie somewhere in, right now, common sense that a 28-year-old woman who's working at a lab that works on plague dies of pneumonia at a lab where they're studying that exact thing. Now, whether a test tube broke or not, we have to begin, do we not, with the suspicion that this woman died of pneumonic plague, which is what the United States and health officials are assuming at this point is that that's what it was. Now, the next big question, at least for the U.S. and governments all over the world, what the hell is going on at that lab?
00:05:48
Speaker 2: Absolutely. And given what we are still dealing with the aftermath of COVID-19 and the, we don't know yet if it, yes, came out of a lab, but certainly there are plenty of reports and plenty of folks who believe that's exactly where it originated from. And so we have to operate with worst case scenario in mind.
00:06:08
Speaker 1: But the worst case, what they know of pneumonic plague again, these things, we should say, if you catch them early, they can be treated. Antibiotics, you can't, but you have to catch it early. But rogues, they wonder, the question for the intelligence community, have they been doctoring up and trying to weaponize plague? So are we dealing with something in that lab now that the world has never seen and that the Russians have been working on? Is this a bioweapon of some kind. That is a big question. If it is, we don't know what the hell it is, how exactly it spreads, or how to treat it because it's a brand new thing. That's a big question.
00:06:47
Speaker 2: And if it's what you just mentioned, if that is what potentially was going on, then the Russians have every single incentive not to tell us what was going on. They don't want the world to know. They're trying to weaponize viruses to use potentially against the world. Think about how much more effective that could even be possibly other than people are looking at nuclear weaponization. Bioterrorism is one of the scariest things out there. And so, yeah, the Russians would have no reason to be transparent. They would have every reason to deny, deflect, and refuse to allow access to true investigation. And we don't know what's going on. And what the World Health Organization has said doesn't make me feel any better.
00:07:35
Speaker 1: That statement is... is terrifying and hilarious, that they legitimately, officially put that out.
00:07:42
Speaker 2: Right? It's just, it makes you feel concerned. I'm actually more concerned reading what the World Health Organization had to say about it than them not saying anything at all, that based on the unofficial information available, the public health risk to the general public appears to be low. Let's just try to break that down.
00:08:02
Speaker 1: Yeah. We don't know shit.
00:08:04
Speaker 2: That's what that says to me.
00:08:06
Speaker 1: Yes, that's fine. Just that you use more words.
00:08:07
Speaker 2: Based on unofficial information available.
00:08:11
Speaker 1: Based on nothing.
00:08:13
Speaker 2: That is the most ridiculous statement ever.
00:08:16
Speaker 1: It's still an unofficial official.
00:08:17
Speaker 2: The public health risk to the general public appears to be low based on nothing.
00:08:23
Speaker 1: That's what you're supposed to say.
00:08:23
Speaker 2: You basically told me we don't know nothing about nothing and we don't know what to say right now.
00:08:28
Speaker 1: Nothing to worry about. There's nothing to worry about. Yeah, that didn't make you feel better. Look, the mystery surrounding us, where this is happening is very, very concerning. We don't know what's out there, how far it's gotten, but if you close... and quarantined five facilities, and you had 200 people that you were monitoring to see if they're going to get sick, you think there's a potential, at least, of exposure of some kind. How isolated is this place? How many people are coming and going? How many people have gotten out of there recently? I don't know, baby.
00:08:57
Speaker 2: And how long before you realize, I don't know, they said she died suddenly. What does suddenly mean? In 24 hours? In 48 hours?
00:09:05
Speaker 1: They say the symptoms of plague are quickly onset, like 48 hours.
00:09:08
Speaker 2: Okay, so during that period of time, before she fell ill, who was she in contact with? How many people came and went and went back to their families? We don't know any of this information. What does the footprint look like? This is frightening stuff, and we just don't know what we're dealing with.
00:09:27
Speaker 1: So the lab, again, has this title, Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East. That's the actual name of it. The U.S. officials are keeping an eye on it. on this thing, but did put out a statement as well, DHS saying no indication from available reporting of a broader threat to the United States. That sounds better than based on unofficial information. Yeah, that's better. That's better written.
00:09:49
Speaker 2: Okay, does it make you feel better that Marco Rubio said reports of a suspected plague case were not caused for alarm, but for focus?
00:09:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, nothing to worry about, but we need to figure out what's going on here. Putting all this stuff together, oftentimes I feel like the government knows stuff and they're not telling me. It's also frightening when they don't know stuff. This makes it feel really uncomfortable. You can tell they don't know either.
00:10:18
Speaker 2: Yes, and the DHS statement is already trying to tell us, don't worry, there's a cure. That also makes me nervous. Why are you already talking about what you could do if you were infected? Let's read the whole statement. While the circumstances of this reported case remain unconfirmed, plague is a serious bacterial disease that is treatable with antibiotics. particularly when recognized and treated early. At this time, comma, there is no indication from available reporting of a broader threat to the United States.
00:10:56
Speaker 1: They're talking 30% to 60% death rate if you don't get to folks and treat folks with this. Robes, high. But it can be treated. It's funny that you tell people there's nothing to worry about, but here's the cure for it.
00:11:12
Speaker 2: Just in case.
00:11:13
Speaker 1: Nothing to worry about. Plague. What is this? Yes. Bacterial infection. It is rare. Bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic are the three different types. Now, I didn't know this. Bubonic plague, the name, buboes, swollen lymph nodes. That's what it's named after. So that's where you get bubonic. It is the most common type. You get this, though, Robes. Humans don't pass this to each other. This is from bites from rodents or fleas from rodents that are infected with this thing. Again, antibiotics work, but this is the one known as black death that caused all the pandemics. Now, Robes, the next one, the one we're dealing with now is the problem because it can spread through the air. Coughing or sneezing, though, this is not like COVID. Pneumonic plague, the one we're dealing with now, they think they're dealing with, is not like COVID, Robes. They say this would take extended period. Somebody would have to cough directly on your face kind of a thing. It's not aerosolized, is what they kind of say. It would take larger droplets to do this. But still, it's spreadable. If humans can pass it to each other, that is a significant issue here. And the other one, septicemic plague, it can develop when bacteria spreads into the lungs. Different types, but probes, they all are pretty devastating and damaging. But Good Lord. Everything we have learned. You know what, Robes? We've had a couple of things pop up, even hearing about Ebola. We pay attention in a different way after COVID. This doesn't sound so far away in Siberia to me. Wuhan sounded really, really far away when we first started hearing reports. Siberia sounds like it's down the street.
00:12:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, and look, I understand that these are in isolated parts of the world, but it's funny. We mentioned what officials have been saying publicly about this have actually made me feel more concerned. And to the point of the logistics, Marco Rubio also said this. Given the very limited travel between the U.S. and Russia, he didn't believe it was cause for alarm, again, but it's a cause for focus. And a cause just to keep an eye on it. And we're doing that. He's actually citing very limited travel between the U.S. and Russia. What? That's a confusing statement to me. I didn't realize we had limited travel between the United States and Russia. Is that true?
00:13:45
Speaker 1: Yeah. You just don't have a lot of Americans going to... Russia?
00:13:49
Speaker 2: But don't you have Russians coming to America and Americans going to Russia? Are planes traveling between New York and Moscow? Are planes traveling between L.A. and St. Petersburg?
00:14:00
Speaker 1: Now, I agree. There's not a high level of travel.
00:14:02
Speaker 2: It's not a high level, but there's travel. It still is daily, is it not? It might not be the way it is from New York to London, but there's still plenty of commercial flights coming and going from Russia to the United States. I understand it's not as plentiful as Europe. But it still is a daily occurrence, is it not? I felt like that was strange to minimize that to say, well, that's another reason why we're not worried about the spread. How much spread is there between Wuhan and the United States?
00:14:36
Speaker 1: That is true. Somebody got on one plane.
00:14:38
Speaker 2: It takes one person coughing on a plane.
00:14:41
Speaker 1: That's all it took.
00:14:42
Speaker 2: That's my point. I just feel like to act as if that is a reason to not be worried makes me worried.
00:14:50
Speaker 1: This is why I say, babe, it's scary when you can tell they don't know. They're trying to calm us when they don't even seem calm and comfortable or convicted in what they're actually saying. Again, sure. Sure. Hey, Ebola didn't show up, right? It's raging right now. It hasn't shown up. They put whatever restrictions in place. Siberia is out in the middle of nowhere, right? Supposed to be. I don't even know how you would. Did I see this area right? We're talking about a 65-hour drive, several days drive, if you were just driving it straight from Moscow to where this thing is. It's a long, long way. There's a lot of just space and land, robes, and sure, it's going to stay where it is.
00:15:40
Speaker 2: All right. Well, yes, we've told you what the World Health Organization has said, what Marco Rubio has said, what the Russians have said. When we come back, we'll tell you what our president, Donald Trump, has said about the threat of pneumonic plague. Welcome back, everyone, to Amy and TJ. Yes, everyone's weighing in. No one's quite making me or I'm curious to see how any of you feel about this potential threat looming in Siberia. It's so far away. What could possibly, possibly go wrong? Well, look, the president of the United States, President Trump, has said that, yes, the U.S. is willing to help Russia with this potential threat. plague issue. And he said, look, anybody that has that kind of a problem, we're always willing to help. And he said that his team, the Trump administration, is looking at the situation there very strongly. But this was interesting. He went on to describe pneumonia as a rough disease. He referred to the outbreak as pneumonia plague. I think he might have meant to say pneumonic plague, but he said pneumonia plague. And look, you can see why he might have gotten confused because Russia is saying she died of pneumonia. So he described it as a rough disease, but he added, those microbes have gotten stronger and smarter. They're like an army. Does that make you feel reassured? What?
00:17:20
Speaker 1: The microbes have gotten what?
00:17:22
Speaker 2: Stronger and smarter. They're like an army. When he was referring to pneumonia plague.
00:17:29
Speaker 1: Okay. Man. Okay. Look, I was confused, too.
00:17:36
Speaker 2: Now I feel like you're getting concerned. Look, we heard the State Department say that, yes, we're aware. And I guess there maybe should be some... sort of level of, I don't know how to put this. I do feel reassured to an extent that the world knows about it now. The worst part of this would have been that we didn't know, that we had no awareness of this happening. At least we know what happened. The world is watching now and we can hopefully get involved. What is Russia's What is Russia's responsibility to allow access for the World Health Organization, for the CDC, for our State Department, for other global health unions to get involved and to monitor?
00:18:28
Speaker 1: You know the answer. You know the answer. They do what they want to do. Be as secretive as they want to be. They take as much land as they want. I'm just making the point there. No, they're not answering to anybody about what secret things are going on in their labs.
00:18:42
Speaker 2: And to that extent, the State Department acknowledged that. They said many details have not been confirmed. We're encouraging Russian authorities to share accurate information quickly and openly. They're encouraging Russian authorities to share accurate information. That is also, I don't know what to do with that.
00:19:01
Speaker 1: We wait. We hope. We pray that whatever this is didn't get out of there. Maybe it stayed isolated and maybe this was flukish as anything. But it's hard. Yeah, we have to assume that this young woman died of the plague.
00:19:17
Speaker 2: Yes, of course we do. And what would be your level, your reasonable level of expectation that if someone else fell ill, if they're able to confirm it was the plague, if someone else might die, how soon, how quickly, or how ever would we receive that information?
00:19:35
Speaker 1: You're asking me to trust Russia?
00:19:37
Speaker 2: Exactly.
00:19:37
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, you have that answer. Babe, this is scary stuff because we've seen it before. And this time we just kind of know what it looks like.
00:19:47
Speaker 2: Yes. And in response. to the reports that this all started with a broken test tube, the official Kremlin statement is that no accidents have been detected at the, it's the Irk Tusk Anti-Plague Institute while working with pathogenic microorganisms, the sanitary and epidemiological situation in the region is stable.
00:20:11
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:20:13
Speaker 2: This is what we've gotten.
00:20:14
Speaker 1: From the Kremlin. They really don't know. There's nobody. They're saying nothing, nothing to see here. And we have no choice because they won't let us see anything.
00:20:25
Speaker 2: All right. Fingers crossed, world, that we don't have another pandemic or epidemic to deal with. Let's just hope that this was an isolated event.
00:20:35
Speaker 1: Hope so.
00:20:37
Speaker 2: And there is truly nothing to see there all the way in Siberia. With that, everyone, we always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ Holmes. We'll talk soon.
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Tuesday, October 6th. Don't have enough on your plate to worry about? Now, the plague is being talked about. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. I was still trying to get a handle, Robes, on AI destroying all of humanity here in the next few years. But now, Robes, there's a headline... And a story of great concern, actually, about the plague. Rose, what is happening in the world?
00:00:34
Speaker 2: Well, this is deeply concerning because it's coming from a country, once again, that you cannot trust information coming out of. We're talking about Russia. And a researcher, a 28-year-old lab researcher... who was studying dangerous pathogens, specifically the pneumonic plague, she suddenly dies, and we're hearing that her official cause of death is severe pneumonia.
00:01:06
Speaker 1: Okay, well, did you know there was a lab anywhere in the world called the Anti-Plague Lab? Because I wasn't aware that this thing was out there.
00:01:15
Speaker 2: No, and maybe you'd feel like it's safe because that lab is in Siberia, which is.
00:01:21
Speaker 1: Middle of nowhere.
00:01:22
Speaker 2: Middle of nowhere, but wasn't Wuhan also really far away, too?
00:01:27
Speaker 1: This is actually, Ropes, I'm not sure how many miles, but the place where this lab is is just north of Mongolia. You get through Mongolia, you get further south, and you can start running to some familiar Asian countries. Now, Robes, this is, we said the plague. Robes, the plague. I'm still, right, you're getting a handle on Ebola. Sounds really, really awful, but it still seems so far away. Robes, the plague is not something we talk about often.
00:01:56
Speaker 2: No, because it happened last time we are aware of in the mid-1300s. So it's pretty far in our world's history. However, it killed an estimated 25 to 50 million people.
00:02:12
Speaker 1: This thing, yeah, back in the day wiped out. Several of these pandemics are historic in nature. We think we lost. And again, COVID was awful. But we don't know anything about losing 25, 30 people. 40, 50 million people in one pandemic. This is what this thing, or at least plague, has taken out before.
00:02:33
Speaker 2: Exactly. And it was referred to back in the day as the Black Death. And look, we still see poetry and songs. We sing, I was even saying, he isn't Ring Around the Roses, Pocket Full of Posies, Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down. Isn't that some song that children sang because there was so much death around them that they were given little nursery rhymes to sing about it that's how pervasive this thing was and so yes to hear The plague mentioned in modern times should be beyond frightening. And by the way, that was the bubonic plague. This is the pneumonic plague. And apparently, the pneumonic plague is the rarest and deadliest form.
00:03:19
Speaker 1: Of the plague. So not only is plague, the one we're dealing with is the worst. It's the worst possible plague ever.
00:03:25
Speaker 2: Known to man.
00:03:27
Speaker 1: Isn't that the thing with Ebola now, which is still raging in a historic way? Robes, the strain they have there is the rarest and the most deadly one that they have no treatment for. So here we go talking about this. And yes, even though folks, we were talking about one death, because there are so many questions surrounding this lab, how this young woman died, what she died of, Robes, and right now they are monitoring at least 200 people. So Robes, they are taking this very seriously. And there is a bunch of very serious questions about this.
00:04:00
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Because the pneumonic plague, unlike the bubonic plague, can be transmitted from person to person. And it's described as highly contagious. So, yes, we hear all of these things. We hear that up to 200 people are being observed and at least five facilities in the area are under quarantine. But in the same breath, we're being told nothing to see here. And we're hearing Russians and the Kremlin and Russian media downplaying this, but it all came up with initial reports saying that this young woman, she's 28 years old. I should say she was 28 years old. The initial reports was that she broke a test tube and that that may be the root cause of her death. Now we're hearing from the Kremlin.
00:04:49
Speaker 1: No, no, no.
00:04:50
Speaker 2: Those were just rumors. But it was widely reported initially, so we don't know what actually happened and where the truth actually lies.
00:04:58
Speaker 1: It's got to lie somewhere in, right now, common sense that a 28-year-old woman who's working at a lab that works on plague dies of pneumonia at a lab where they're studying that exact thing. Now, whether a test tube broke or not, we have to begin, do we not, with the suspicion that this woman died of pneumonic plague, which is what the United States and health officials are assuming at this point is that that's what it was. Now, the next big question, at least for the U.S. and governments all over the world, what the hell is going on at that lab?
00:05:48
Speaker 2: Absolutely. And given what we are still dealing with the aftermath of COVID-19 and the, we don't know yet if it, yes, came out of a lab, but certainly there are plenty of reports and plenty of folks who believe that's exactly where it originated from. And so we have to operate with worst case scenario in mind.
00:06:08
Speaker 1: But the worst case, what they know of pneumonic plague again, these things, we should say, if you catch them early, they can be treated. Antibiotics, you can't, but you have to catch it early. But rogues, they wonder, the question for the intelligence community, have they been doctoring up and trying to weaponize plague? So are we dealing with something in that lab now that the world has never seen and that the Russians have been working on? Is this a bioweapon of some kind. That is a big question. If it is, we don't know what the hell it is, how exactly it spreads, or how to treat it because it's a brand new thing. That's a big question.
00:06:47
Speaker 2: And if it's what you just mentioned, if that is what potentially was going on, then the Russians have every single incentive not to tell us what was going on. They don't want the world to know. They're trying to weaponize viruses to use potentially against the world. Think about how much more effective that could even be possibly other than people are looking at nuclear weaponization. Bioterrorism is one of the scariest things out there. And so, yeah, the Russians would have no reason to be transparent. They would have every reason to deny, deflect, and refuse to allow access to true investigation. And we don't know what's going on. And what the World Health Organization has said doesn't make me feel any better.
00:07:35
Speaker 1: That statement is... is terrifying and hilarious, that they legitimately, officially put that out.
00:07:42
Speaker 2: Right? It's just, it makes you feel concerned. I'm actually more concerned reading what the World Health Organization had to say about it than them not saying anything at all, that based on the unofficial information available, the public health risk to the general public appears to be low. Let's just try to break that down.
00:08:02
Speaker 1: Yeah. We don't know shit.
00:08:04
Speaker 2: That's what that says to me.
00:08:06
Speaker 1: Yes, that's fine. Just that you use more words.
00:08:07
Speaker 2: Based on unofficial information available.
00:08:11
Speaker 1: Based on nothing.
00:08:13
Speaker 2: That is the most ridiculous statement ever.
00:08:16
Speaker 1: It's still an unofficial official.
00:08:17
Speaker 2: The public health risk to the general public appears to be low based on nothing.
00:08:23
Speaker 1: That's what you're supposed to say.
00:08:23
Speaker 2: You basically told me we don't know nothing about nothing and we don't know what to say right now.
00:08:28
Speaker 1: Nothing to worry about. There's nothing to worry about. Yeah, that didn't make you feel better. Look, the mystery surrounding us, where this is happening is very, very concerning. We don't know what's out there, how far it's gotten, but if you close... and quarantined five facilities, and you had 200 people that you were monitoring to see if they're going to get sick, you think there's a potential, at least, of exposure of some kind. How isolated is this place? How many people are coming and going? How many people have gotten out of there recently? I don't know, baby.
00:08:57
Speaker 2: And how long before you realize, I don't know, they said she died suddenly. What does suddenly mean? In 24 hours? In 48 hours?
00:09:05
Speaker 1: They say the symptoms of plague are quickly onset, like 48 hours.
00:09:08
Speaker 2: Okay, so during that period of time, before she fell ill, who was she in contact with? How many people came and went and went back to their families? We don't know any of this information. What does the footprint look like? This is frightening stuff, and we just don't know what we're dealing with.
00:09:27
Speaker 1: So the lab, again, has this title, Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia and the Far East. That's the actual name of it. The U.S. officials are keeping an eye on it. on this thing, but did put out a statement as well, DHS saying no indication from available reporting of a broader threat to the United States. That sounds better than based on unofficial information. Yeah, that's better. That's better written.
00:09:49
Speaker 2: Okay, does it make you feel better that Marco Rubio said reports of a suspected plague case were not caused for alarm, but for focus?
00:09:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, nothing to worry about, but we need to figure out what's going on here. Putting all this stuff together, oftentimes I feel like the government knows stuff and they're not telling me. It's also frightening when they don't know stuff. This makes it feel really uncomfortable. You can tell they don't know either.
00:10:18
Speaker 2: Yes, and the DHS statement is already trying to tell us, don't worry, there's a cure. That also makes me nervous. Why are you already talking about what you could do if you were infected? Let's read the whole statement. While the circumstances of this reported case remain unconfirmed, plague is a serious bacterial disease that is treatable with antibiotics. particularly when recognized and treated early. At this time, comma, there is no indication from available reporting of a broader threat to the United States.
00:10:56
Speaker 1: They're talking 30% to 60% death rate if you don't get to folks and treat folks with this. Robes, high. But it can be treated. It's funny that you tell people there's nothing to worry about, but here's the cure for it.
00:11:12
Speaker 2: Just in case.
00:11:13
Speaker 1: Nothing to worry about. Plague. What is this? Yes. Bacterial infection. It is rare. Bubonic, pneumonic, and septicemic are the three different types. Now, I didn't know this. Bubonic plague, the name, buboes, swollen lymph nodes. That's what it's named after. So that's where you get bubonic. It is the most common type. You get this, though, Robes. Humans don't pass this to each other. This is from bites from rodents or fleas from rodents that are infected with this thing. Again, antibiotics work, but this is the one known as black death that caused all the pandemics. Now, Robes, the next one, the one we're dealing with now is the problem because it can spread through the air. Coughing or sneezing, though, this is not like COVID. Pneumonic plague, the one we're dealing with now, they think they're dealing with, is not like COVID, Robes. They say this would take extended period. Somebody would have to cough directly on your face kind of a thing. It's not aerosolized, is what they kind of say. It would take larger droplets to do this. But still, it's spreadable. If humans can pass it to each other, that is a significant issue here. And the other one, septicemic plague, it can develop when bacteria spreads into the lungs. Different types, but probes, they all are pretty devastating and damaging. But Good Lord. Everything we have learned. You know what, Robes? We've had a couple of things pop up, even hearing about Ebola. We pay attention in a different way after COVID. This doesn't sound so far away in Siberia to me. Wuhan sounded really, really far away when we first started hearing reports. Siberia sounds like it's down the street.
00:12:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, and look, I understand that these are in isolated parts of the world, but it's funny. We mentioned what officials have been saying publicly about this have actually made me feel more concerned. And to the point of the logistics, Marco Rubio also said this. Given the very limited travel between the U.S. and Russia, he didn't believe it was cause for alarm, again, but it's a cause for focus. And a cause just to keep an eye on it. And we're doing that. He's actually citing very limited travel between the U.S. and Russia. What? That's a confusing statement to me. I didn't realize we had limited travel between the United States and Russia. Is that true?
00:13:45
Speaker 1: Yeah. You just don't have a lot of Americans going to... Russia?
00:13:49
Speaker 2: But don't you have Russians coming to America and Americans going to Russia? Are planes traveling between New York and Moscow? Are planes traveling between L.A. and St. Petersburg?
00:14:00
Speaker 1: Now, I agree. There's not a high level of travel.
00:14:02
Speaker 2: It's not a high level, but there's travel. It still is daily, is it not? It might not be the way it is from New York to London, but there's still plenty of commercial flights coming and going from Russia to the United States. I understand it's not as plentiful as Europe. But it still is a daily occurrence, is it not? I felt like that was strange to minimize that to say, well, that's another reason why we're not worried about the spread. How much spread is there between Wuhan and the United States?
00:14:36
Speaker 1: That is true. Somebody got on one plane.
00:14:38
Speaker 2: It takes one person coughing on a plane.
00:14:41
Speaker 1: That's all it took.
00:14:42
Speaker 2: That's my point. I just feel like to act as if that is a reason to not be worried makes me worried.
00:14:50
Speaker 1: This is why I say, babe, it's scary when you can tell they don't know. They're trying to calm us when they don't even seem calm and comfortable or convicted in what they're actually saying. Again, sure. Sure. Hey, Ebola didn't show up, right? It's raging right now. It hasn't shown up. They put whatever restrictions in place. Siberia is out in the middle of nowhere, right? Supposed to be. I don't even know how you would. Did I see this area right? We're talking about a 65-hour drive, several days drive, if you were just driving it straight from Moscow to where this thing is. It's a long, long way. There's a lot of just space and land, robes, and sure, it's going to stay where it is.
00:15:40
Speaker 2: All right. Well, yes, we've told you what the World Health Organization has said, what Marco Rubio has said, what the Russians have said. When we come back, we'll tell you what our president, Donald Trump, has said about the threat of pneumonic plague. Welcome back, everyone, to Amy and TJ. Yes, everyone's weighing in. No one's quite making me or I'm curious to see how any of you feel about this potential threat looming in Siberia. It's so far away. What could possibly, possibly go wrong? Well, look, the president of the United States, President Trump, has said that, yes, the U.S. is willing to help Russia with this potential threat. plague issue. And he said, look, anybody that has that kind of a problem, we're always willing to help. And he said that his team, the Trump administration, is looking at the situation there very strongly. But this was interesting. He went on to describe pneumonia as a rough disease. He referred to the outbreak as pneumonia plague. I think he might have meant to say pneumonic plague, but he said pneumonia plague. And look, you can see why he might have gotten confused because Russia is saying she died of pneumonia. So he described it as a rough disease, but he added, those microbes have gotten stronger and smarter. They're like an army. Does that make you feel reassured? What?
00:17:20
Speaker 1: The microbes have gotten what?
00:17:22
Speaker 2: Stronger and smarter. They're like an army. When he was referring to pneumonia plague.
00:17:29
Speaker 1: Okay. Man. Okay. Look, I was confused, too.
00:17:36
Speaker 2: Now I feel like you're getting concerned. Look, we heard the State Department say that, yes, we're aware. And I guess there maybe should be some... sort of level of, I don't know how to put this. I do feel reassured to an extent that the world knows about it now. The worst part of this would have been that we didn't know, that we had no awareness of this happening. At least we know what happened. The world is watching now and we can hopefully get involved. What is Russia's What is Russia's responsibility to allow access for the World Health Organization, for the CDC, for our State Department, for other global health unions to get involved and to monitor?
00:18:28
Speaker 1: You know the answer. You know the answer. They do what they want to do. Be as secretive as they want to be. They take as much land as they want. I'm just making the point there. No, they're not answering to anybody about what secret things are going on in their labs.
00:18:42
Speaker 2: And to that extent, the State Department acknowledged that. They said many details have not been confirmed. We're encouraging Russian authorities to share accurate information quickly and openly. They're encouraging Russian authorities to share accurate information. That is also, I don't know what to do with that.
00:19:01
Speaker 1: We wait. We hope. We pray that whatever this is didn't get out of there. Maybe it stayed isolated and maybe this was flukish as anything. But it's hard. Yeah, we have to assume that this young woman died of the plague.
00:19:17
Speaker 2: Yes, of course we do. And what would be your level, your reasonable level of expectation that if someone else fell ill, if they're able to confirm it was the plague, if someone else might die, how soon, how quickly, or how ever would we receive that information?
00:19:35
Speaker 1: You're asking me to trust Russia?
00:19:37
Speaker 2: Exactly.
00:19:37
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, you have that answer. Babe, this is scary stuff because we've seen it before. And this time we just kind of know what it looks like.
00:19:47
Speaker 2: Yes. And in response. to the reports that this all started with a broken test tube, the official Kremlin statement is that no accidents have been detected at the, it's the Irk Tusk Anti-Plague Institute while working with pathogenic microorganisms, the sanitary and epidemiological situation in the region is stable.
00:20:11
Speaker 1: Okay.
00:20:13
Speaker 2: This is what we've gotten.
00:20:14
Speaker 1: From the Kremlin. They really don't know. There's nobody. They're saying nothing, nothing to see here. And we have no choice because they won't let us see anything.
00:20:25
Speaker 2: All right. Fingers crossed, world, that we don't have another pandemic or epidemic to deal with. Let's just hope that this was an isolated event.
00:20:35
Speaker 1: Hope so.
00:20:37
Speaker 2: And there is truly nothing to see there all the way in Siberia. With that, everyone, we always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ Holmes. We'll talk soon.
