“I always keep my hand on the pulse.” Teresa Gabrielyan

Due to the coronavirus, one of the most famous tourist destinations in Armenia, Garni Cathedral and Geghard Monastery, has been closed for a month and a half now. Even on Easter days, the church is only open for a few hours, and only one or two people are allowed to enter the church on the condition that they keep their social distance. Teresa Gabrielyan, a member of the Council of Elders of Garni village, Kotayk region, told WomenNet.am about the daily life of their community in an emergency situation.

“Several times a day I call the village administration and the doctor of the polyclinic,” says Teresa. “I always keep my hand on the pulse, I try to be aware of everything.”

Fortunately, no cases of coronavirus infection have been reported in Garni. There is only one airport employee in the village who has been in contact with the infected person, spent 14 days in solitary confinement, passed a test, the answer to which was negative, and now he is at home

“The polyclinic works in an emergency mode, there are disinfectants in front of the entrance,” says Teresa. The entrance to the village hall is allowed only with masks, before entering they clean their hands with a disinfectant solution and go upstairs. When they have finished their work, the door handles and surfaces are disinfected again. The head of the village and the employees of the village administration urge the villagers to apply to an aid station immediately if they feel unwell or have a fever. The transport does not work in the village and even the taxis do not work by the order of the village head. There are people working in Yerevan, and they go to work in their cars. The streets of the village are disinfected with cars specially provided for this purpose.

Only grocery stores in the village and the only supermarket are open, the sellers work with masks and gloves, and clothing and construction materials stores are closed.

– Every time I go to the store, I ask people to keep their social distance. If I notice any violations, I reprimand them. Please stay away from each other and approach the cash register only when making their payment. Thank you for always accepting my words, although there are very few such cases.

It is rare to meet people on the streets, except that people have realized and understood the situation, the agricultural season has started and the farmer is cultivating his garden from morning to night, he doesn’t have time to stand on the streets.

– During this time, the young people of the village have gathered only once at a big crossroads, but after the explanatory work of the village administration, everything has been fixed, you will not see people in groups on the streets of the village.

There were several deaths in our village from cancer, infection, our village head and the district administration personally supervised that there were only relatives, only 10 people.

During this time, the village administration also helped the needy families in the village. The first aid was that the food in the closed kindergarten was completely distributed to them. They also received assistance from the regional administration, and recently funds were written off from the budget of the village administration, which was used to buy food and distribute it to all the needy.

These days, many residents of the village have had problems using government support measures. Theresa herself has been involved in government action plans for the villagers.