Wear That Mask, Dear People: Mirzoyan Urges Mask Use

During a discussion on amendments to the Administrative Offenses Act, Speaker of the National Assembly Ararat Mirzoyan noted, “To be honest, listening to this discussion reminded me of a joke. One person returns home in the evening and tells his wife, ‘Today I tricked the seller, I paid the money, but didn’t take the product.’ Let’s understand who is tricking whom in this story and for what reason. You discuss whether it is mandatory, it might not be on the face, it could be in the bag, but can you enter a restaurant? Endless scenarios can be devised on how to avoid punishment; one can always navigate through the market of ‘buts.’

Well, it may be possible to evade it, but now the question is, in this story, who is deceiving whom? Why does the government fine people? What is it doing? It’s doing it to protect those people. There is no 100 percent answer in the world—does the mask protect or not? The WHO says on Mondays it helps, on Tuesdays it doesn’t, and then on Wednesdays it says, ‘No, it seems to help a bit,’ meaning there’s a chance it helps. Wear that mask, dear people, keep it with you. They say, ‘No, we’re going to do it this way, so we won’t get fined.’