The Dynamics of Public Health Ethics

Abstract

Abstract This chapter looks at the ethics of Covid-19 to argue that situations like public health emergencies rely on a dynamic ethics and, as such, consideration must be given on how to reverse social norms that arise during these emergencies. While a great deal of ethical discussion looks at the conditions about when an ‘emergency ethics’ becomes operational, much less has been said about the end period. While certain policies and practices might be justifiable in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we need to ensure that such policies are reversed once the Covid-19 emergency has receded, and that the social norms around particular surveillance practices and policies return to pre-Covid-19 state. This chapter argues that Covid-19 pandemic surveillance policies and technologies show us that emergency surveillance ought to be considered as justifiable but abnormal, and suggests how to ensure that the surveillance justified by public health ethics remains abnormal.