By Vahan Bournazian

I stay at home.

And when I must go out, I wear a mask — not for me, but for you, and for all of us collectively.  

As our Healthcare Minister informs, a mask protects another person from an infected person who does not know about their own infection.  I can never know, at any moment, if I am infected or not because my infection, and my potential transmission of the virus to others, can occur days before my symptoms appear, and also because approximately a third to a half of us who end up carrying and transmitting the virus will have no symptoms at all.  Some of us who catch the virus will die.

When the stakes are high, I must “err on the side of caution”.  Wearing a mask prevents me from potentially emitting the virus in my speech or breath.  If I protect you, and if you in

turn protect me, the virus will have no new host, and die.  Thus, if we each protect each other, we protect Armenia, but only if we all do it together.

The Details:

The stakes are high, and the situation is dynamic.  Each life is valuable. Armenia is a small country with a small population.  There is very little margin for error. We must act now in a cautionary way based on what we now know is possible.  New evidence requires new efforts.  

What we know is possible, if not probable:

• SARS-CoV-2 spreads exponentially:  over time there are more and more infections and transmissions. 
• without widespread testing, there are more infections than are recorded;
• a portion of those persons infected will die.
• over time social restrictions to slow SARS-CoV-2 transmission will prevent deaths, and any easing of such restrictions will result in increased deaths;
• like other viruses, SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted through contact, including contact with a contaminated surface.
• like other viruses, SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted through aerosol (droplets in air), most prominently through a cough or sneeze, but new evidence shows that the virus is emitted via speaking and breathing also, which may or may not be sufficient for infection;
• 2 meters distance is probably not sufficient in a closed space;
• the virus may last in air up to 3 hours and may move up to 8 meters, and models show that when walking behind another person 4 meters distance is suggested, and even more if exercising;
• we may transfer the virus to others before we have symptoms, and we may never have symptoms.
• more and more countries and regions are requiring people to wear masks when in public.

If you wear a mask, and if you wear it correctly, it might protect you somewhat.  But if I wear a mask, and everyone around you wears a mask, you are much more protected than if you alone wore a mask.  We must adopt the premise that we must protect each other as a means of protecting ourselves, individually and collectively.

Wearing a mask is a sign of respect for others.  Wearing a mask is a sign of camaraderie. A patriot wears a mask.