Crowded Buses, Long Lines: COVID Prevention Systems Are Nearly Nonexistent - Elinar Vardanyan

Elinar Vardanyan, a member of the Alternative Projects Group, has published an article addressing the COVID-19 situation and its management in Armenia. Read the article below.

In our country, the fight against COVID remains at an amateur level. Prevention systems are almost nonexistent. Serious measures are not being taken in this direction, and those that are implemented are either incomplete or cosmetic.

It is difficult to convince citizens about the seriousness of the pandemic when the state does not guarantee any epidemic safety norms in public transport. Crowded stops, packed minibuses, and buses are sending a direct message to citizens to take the issue lightly. As a result, when getting into elevators, public transport, or entering shops, people do not wear masks and do not maintain any social distance. This creates an environment highly conducive to the spread of the virus, leading to new infections and deaths.

It is hard to discuss the seriousness of the pandemic when there are huge lines at municipal offices for property tax payments. Many people are waiting for their turn to pay property tax. The staff member serving the public searches long in ledgers for the taxpayer and then fills out the payment receipt slowly, tearing a part and returning it, before searching in neighboring rooms for the change of the amount paid, all the while the line continues to grow.

In such conditions, discussing COVID prevention seems absurd. To be honest, there is also an electronic unified system for property tax payment that seems to ease the issue. However, one of the windows requires filling in the cadastral code of the real estate, which is not present in old property certificates, and most citizens do not have new certificates. Trying to find the property tax code in previously handwritten payment receipts is hopeless.

Is it a minor detail, perhaps? But this contributes to the formation of lines, and consequently, the spread of COVID. With COVID as an example, we can clearly see that the state is not organized enough to implement an effective program in any sector.