Fighting Against Nikol's Government by Not Wearing Masks, Says Narine Mkrtchyan

The President of the National Press Club, Narine Mkrtchyan, wrote on her Facebook page: "The main reasons for not wearing masks in Armenia, in my opinion, are as follows:

1. The government has set a bad example by not wearing masks for a long time.
2. A significant part of Armenians is undisciplined and prone to law violations.
3. Most of those who do not wear masks have low self-awareness and are uninformed.
4. The wearing of masks is not enforced.
5. By not wearing masks, they claim to be fighting against Nikol's government, reasoning that first, they do not comply with his directives, and second, the more cases there are, the weaker the government will become.

With these and other reasons combined, Armenia is recording a gradual increase in infections, while the world is mainly observing a trend of decrease.

Populist semi-opposition should be pushing the government to adhere to its own decisions instead of holding demonstrations against buying masks and gloves. The populist government must strengthen enforcement and penalize everyone not wearing masks. “Individual responsibility” does not work in Armenia; the responsibility for the situation always lies with the government.

It is even necessary to impose fines against those campaigning on social networks against wearing masks. This would also reveal many fake accounts in the process. In general, the amount of the fine should remain high; if families were fined 50-100 thousand drams, they would wear masks as a whole family. Otherwise, what is happening is that numerous unmasked people walk around in the center of Yerevan during the day, and the situation is even worse in the outskirts, where very few wear masks.

Drivers of public transport and taxis are mostly unmasked or wearing the mask below their chin. The condition in small shops is horrible. I won’t even mention the lack of social distancing.

The head of the emergency response should step out of his office one by one, at least walk around the center and see how his decisions are not being implemented and monitored.

Life has shown that placing hope in the civic consciousness of a significant part of the Armenian people is hopeless. Perhaps it is necessary to show infected individuals, with their faces covered, who can narrate their stories, even if it leaves a psychologically heavy impression.

People should not panic, but they must not lose their sense of danger. H1 should be fully responsible for propaganda and informational efforts, while the police should handle enforcement. Otherwise, avoiding infection will be a fortunate and rare occurrence, and death tolls will rise.

There is still a state of emergency in Armenia, which allows for the most stringent measures if necessary. Otherwise, it was allowed to pass a law on identification, but the number of infections is rapidly increasing.

Any government must monitor the implementation of its own decisions. Officials should be fined first for not wearing masks, and such cases should be made public. If wearing masks and gloves supposedly reduces the risk of infection by even 20 percent, that is already an achievement, while experts claim it reduces the risk by 60-80 percent. We do not live in isolation from the world; we do not only live for ourselves. Life is a great gift; why risk it if you can protect it?"