Monday, June 13, 2022
No Result
View All Result
Asbarez.com
NEWSLETTER
ՀԱՅ
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports
No Result
View All Result
Asbarez.com
ՀԱՅ
No Result
View All Result

COVID Frontline 3+ Months In

by Asbarez Staff
June 22, 2020
in Armenia, By Any Means, Latest, Top Stories
1
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Garen Yegparian
Garen Yegparian

BY GAREN YEGPARIAN

Here we are, a little over three months since counter-disease-spreading measures were implemented in the U.S. (of course some countries started sooner and others later) to stem the tide of the COVID-19 virus.  Now, with an increase in the number of  cases worldwide (in the U.S. some part the uptick is attributable to the demonstrations that were held after the police murder of George Floyd, but too much should not be made of this factor relative to the insufficiently cautious re-opening of the economy).

Unfortunately, developments since then have been decidedly mixed.  Some people have over-reacted – e.g. driving around with a mask on while ALONE in their cars.  A “middle” group doesn’t seem to understand fully what they’re supposed to do and why, e.g. having a mask on with only the mouth covered but nose exposed.  Others have under-reacted, choosing to believe this threat to humanity is a “scam-demic”.  The latter category of people, understandably so, are much more lax when it comes to implementing precautionary measures – masks, social distancing, proper attention to hygienic practices (hand-washing, cleaning/disinfecting), etc.  But in so doing, they are endangering lives, in particular those of people in the groups at highest risk: the elderly, immuno-compromised, obese, various pre-existing conditions.

COVID-19 infection rates by country
COVID-19 infection rates by country

Unfortunately, this reckless behavior extends to our homeland in a BIG way.  For this, I can only place blame squarely on the government for not acting in a way that conveys to the citizens the threat they face.  While the initial step of closing the border with Iran was a good one, since then, the record has been spotty.  People in the Republic of Armenia are have not grasped the severity of the situation.  Proof?  Take a look at the accompanying table.  The RoA has the eleventh highest infection rate (in per-capita terms) in the world!  In the table, which reflects data through June 18, I’ve included our neighboring countries and a few others with large Armenian populations, along with the highest and lowest “title” holders.  This is embarrassing and deadly for us.  It’s time to shape up.

Once again, the ARF-family of organizations is coming to the support of our homeland.  This time, it is the Armenian Youth Federation leading the charge with a fundraiser called “CovAID Armenia” which will deliver necessities to the villages of the country suffering from the pandemic.  Please make a contribution.

An extension of the lack of caution in the homeland is evident in our communities, too.  If in Yerevan interviewees asked about their thoughts regarding the pandemic respond with pointless macho bravado about their mis-perceived invulnerability, in Glendale, the usual crowd hanging out at the Starbucks on Glenoaks Blvd. abutting the Jons supermarket are equally (masklessly) foolhardy.  On one occasion, I remarked to them that they should be ashamed of their behavior since we don’t need another genocide, this time self-inflicted.

On the positive side, our organizations continue to NOT meet in person and are using online platforms, video/audio conferencing.  These are annoying, but necessary, although they tend to exclude our oldest compatriots whose technology-savvy is not up to the task.

Personally, as a Los Angeles city employee, I have been called up as a “disaster service worker” (it’s part of the job that one accepts along with employment).  I have worked at a converted recreation center that housed homeless people, later in various motels/hotels also housing the homeless during this period, and most recently at a COVID test site (Dodger Stadium).  The work isn’t rocket science by any measure, but it is important to help reduce the impact of the pandemic.

On the outdoors front, when various park agencies reopened their lands about six weeks ago, the trailheads were incredibly full.  Everyone seemed to have cabin fever.  This seems to have abated in the last two weeks.  It’s good to see people getting out, and for the most part practicing the necessary safety measures.  I go to places that receive very few hikers/riders.  For example, my most recent hike, I saw all of to other people over the course of the 11-ish miles my friend and I hiked!

Please continue to take the simple, yet extremely necessary, precautionary measures necessary in these pandemic times and also, don’t forget to support the AYF’s CovAID Armenia effort.

Asbarez Staff

Asbarez Staff

Next Post

Abdullah The Lizard

Comments 1

  1. Ara says:
    2 years ago

    In the companion article in Asbarez, http://asbarez.com/194833/fighting-covid-19-in-armenia/, author Raffi Kendirjian says “a major factor in the rise of COVID-19 in Armenia is behavioral, as the average citizen seems to have only recently realized that the virus is real, and despite this realization, many continue to ignore the authorities’ calls to wear masks and ignore social distancing guidelines that are essential to slowing down the spread of the virus”. This is the exact same behavior we see her in the Glendale stores, where a polite request for someone to raise their mask may be met with scorn or an argument, or a diatribe about 5G towers.

    As Armenians, we have to realize that this is our make-or-break moment. We have to put aside politics as usual and rally around the science. No one will save our country if political infighting causes gridlockck in the streets or fistfights in Parliament, or if digs by opposition parties undermine the government’s efforts. The Turkish wolves remain at the door and our (currently) healthy armed forces are the only thing that stands in the way.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recommended

Shahumian’s De-Occupation Remains a Priority for Artsakh

Shahumian’s De-Occupation Remains a Priority for Artsakh

2 hours ago

Board of Regents Condemns Attacks on Armenian Schools’ Integrity, Commitment to Homeland

2 hours ago

Connect with us

  • About
  • Advertising
  • Subscribe
  • Contact

© 2021 Asbarez | All Rights Reserved | Powered By MSDN Solutions Inc.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Top Stories
  • Community
  • Arts & Culture
    • Art
    • Books
    • Music
    • Theatre
    • Critics’ Forum
  • Op-Ed
    • Editorial
    • Opinon
    • Letters
  • Columns
    • By Any Means
    • My Turn
    • Three Apples
    • Community Links
    • Critics’ Forum
    • My Name is Armen
    • Living in Armenia
  • Videos
  • Sports

© 2021 Asbarez | All Rights Reserved | Powered By MSDN Solutions Inc.

Accessibility

Accessibility modes

Epilepsy Safe Mode
Dampens color and removes blinks
This mode enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
Visually Impaired Mode
Improves website's visuals
This mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
Cognitive Disability Mode
Helps to focus on specific content
This mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
ADHD Friendly Mode
Reduces distractions and improve focus
This mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
Blindness Mode
Allows using the site with your screen-reader
This mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.

Online Dictionary

    Readable Experience

    Content Scaling
    Default
    Text Magnifier
    Readable Font
    Dyslexia Friendly
    Highlight Titles
    Highlight Links
    Font Sizing
    Default
    Line Height
    Default
    Letter Spacing
    Default
    Left Aligned
    Center Aligned
    Right Aligned

    Visually Pleasing Experience

    Dark Contrast
    Light Contrast
    Monochrome
    High Contrast
    High Saturation
    Low Saturation
    Adjust Text Colors
    Adjust Title Colors
    Adjust Background Colors

    Easy Orientation

    Mute Sounds
    Hide Images
    Virtual Keyboard
    Reading Guide
    Stop Animations
    Reading Mask
    Highlight Hover
    Highlight Focus
    Big Dark Cursor
    Big Light Cursor
    Navigation Keys

    Asbarez.com Accessibility Statement

    Accessibility Statement

    • www.asbarez.com
    • June 13, 2022

    Compliance status

    We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.

    To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.

    This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.

    Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.

    If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email

    Screen-reader and keyboard navigation

    Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:

    1. Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.

      These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.

    2. Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.

      Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.

    Disability profiles supported in our website

    • Epilepsy Safe Mode: this profile enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
    • Visually Impaired Mode: this mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
    • Cognitive Disability Mode: this mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
    • ADHD Friendly Mode: this mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
    • Blindness Mode: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
    • Keyboard Navigation Profile (Motor-Impaired): this profile enables motor-impaired persons to operate the website using the keyboard Tab, Shift+Tab, and the Enter keys. Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.

    Additional UI, design, and readability adjustments

    1. Font adjustments – users, can increase and decrease its size, change its family (type), adjust the spacing, alignment, line height, and more.
    2. Color adjustments – users can select various color contrast profiles such as light, dark, inverted, and monochrome. Additionally, users can swap color schemes of titles, texts, and backgrounds, with over 7 different coloring options.
    3. Animations – epileptic users can stop all running animations with the click of a button. Animations controlled by the interface include videos, GIFs, and CSS flashing transitions.
    4. Content highlighting – users can choose to emphasize important elements such as links and titles. They can also choose to highlight focused or hovered elements only.
    5. Audio muting – users with hearing devices may experience headaches or other issues due to automatic audio playing. This option lets users mute the entire website instantly.
    6. Cognitive disorders – we utilize a search engine that is linked to Wikipedia and Wiktionary, allowing people with cognitive disorders to decipher meanings of phrases, initials, slang, and others.
    7. Additional functions – we provide users the option to change cursor color and size, use a printing mode, enable a virtual keyboard, and many other functions.

    Browser and assistive technology compatibility

    We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.

    Notes, comments, and feedback

    Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to