Ethics Education for Successful Infectious Disease Control of COVID-19

Hannah Yeefen Lim

doi:10.1007/s41649-020-00124-4

Abstract

The infection rates of COVID-19 have been exponential in some countries despite the imposition of infectious disease control measures such as lockdowns and physical distancing, which form one of the basic principles of public health and infectious disease control. There have been significant problems with leaders and citizenry deliberately ignoring and not complying with such measures and which have directly resulted in sudden rises in infection numbers. Here, I show the nature and extent of the widespread problem and argue that the problem is in large part due to our modern society characterised by liberal individualism. I apply the philosophy proposed by philosopher Alasdair MacIntrye to show that one key underlying cause of the non-compliant behaviour of citizenry is due to modern liberal individualism that has deprived the modern nation state of the opportunities and authority for it to teach or to dictate what is the common good of the society as a whole to individuals in its community. This is the first time MacIntyre’s philosophy has been applied to public health, and this paper demonstrates the need for ethics education to counter-balance liberal individualism in order to contain and to prevent another pandemic and public health crisis in modern society.

Highlights

The infection rates of COVID-19 have been exponential in some countries despite the imposition of infectious disease control measures such as lockdowns and physical distancing, which form one of the basic principles of public health and infectious disease control
The purpose of this research is not to delve into those issues; rather, the question examined here is why, from a social philosophy perspective, so many individuals around the world were so unwilling to follow the directives on infection control measures such as to physically distance themselves from others and to stay at home—one of the basic principles of public health and infectious disease control; and on the flip side, why
The current severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) originating in Wuhan, China, which causes COVID-19 disease and the current global pandemic was reported on 31 December 2019 to the World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office

Summary

The Observable Global Problem

The current severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) originating in Wuhan, China, which causes COVID-19 disease and the current global pandemic was reported on 31 December 2019 to the World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office. From the middle of April 2020 onwards, many demonstrators in some US states blatantly ignored the lockdowns and the safe distancing measures in place and came out in force in the streets, some carrying guns and automatic weapons making their way into a Capitol building and attempted to enter the floor of the in-session legislative chamber (Beckett 2020), to protest the lockdowns and stay home orders (Dartunorro 2020) These protesters in over a dozen states (BBC News 2020a) across the US such as in Maryland, New Hampshire, Texas, Indiana, Nevada, Wisconsin, Ohio and California relied on claims of their supposed Constitutional rights not to be in lockdown (Straits Times 2020), whilst in some cities such as Denver, a few healthcare workers braved the protestors to stage their counter-protest by blocking the anti-lockdown demonstrations (Hutchinson 2020). He was immediately sent to a hospital from the airport in Singapore, but he subsequently became one of the first casualties from COVID-19 in Singapore (Liu 2020)

The Cause of the Behaviour from the Perspective of Social Philosophy

Ethics Education

Conclusions

Compliance with Ethical Standards