[MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER: As a contact tracer, you're going to learn private information, confidential information about people. So it's important to understand and define what does privacy mean, what does confidentiality mean, and define some other terms about the ethics of contact tracing that you'll need to understand. First, let's talk about privacy. So these are all legal concepts. So I'm going to give you the legal definition, and also, explain what it means practically. So the legal definition of privacy is the right of a person to be free from intrusion or publicity concerning their personal matters. So what does that mean? Basically, it means that everyone has the right to keep their personal life personal. But as a contact tracer you're going to come into contact with people's private information, because you need to to do your job and to protect the health of the public. So you're going to be asking them private information, like who lives in a house with you, who did you spend time with in the past, where have you gone in the past week, how much time did you spend with people in your home and outside your home? Those are examples of personal or private information, but you're going to need to know them. So it's important to remember that a contact tracer can ask about private information, but only for the purposes of contact tracing. And a contact tracer can use the private information that people provide, but only for contact tracing purposes. So the general summary is, you can ask about, learn, and use private information, information from people's private lives, but only for protecting the public, only for contact tracing purposes. Now, let's talk about confidentiality. Sometimes people use privacy and confidentiality together, but they're slightly different. So the legal definition of confidentiality is the right of an individual to have personal, identifiable, medical information kept private, and not to be released without his, or her, or their consent. So what does that mean? It means your medical information can't be shared with anyone else unless you agree to it, typically. But if it's being shared to protect public health, then it can be shared. In particular, the results from a COVID-19 test can be shared with others for the purposes of contact tracing to protect public health. So there are limits around what can be shared and with whom. So examples of confidential information that you'll be discussing during case investigations and contact tracing includes, any other medical conditions that the case or contact may have, because, remember, that could put them at high risk for severe disease. You'll also, of course, be discussing results from their COVID-19 test. So a contact tracing can only learn about medical information that's relevant to the contact tracing that you're doing, and can only be used for contact tracing purposes. So similar to private information about people, contact tracers are also going to learn about confidential medical information of cases and contacts. And they can learn about it, and they can use it, but only for contact tracing purposes. Next, let's talk about autonomy. Autonomy legally means the right of a person to make their own decisions. It's also known as the right to self or an agency. And what this really means, is that each person can make their own decisions. This is true unless the decisions they make or the things they do can harm someone else. And we all know that this is true. And in the case of contact tracing, it means that people can make their own decisions. But if they're not isolating themselves or not quarantining themselves, that could harm someone else. It does put other people at risk, so they do have some limits on their autonomy, or their ability to make their own decisions within the context of contact tracing. So where does autonomy show up in contact tracing? Where will you encounter it? Well, you're requesting someone to quarantine, and you're requesting cases to isolate themselves from others, so you will try to convince them of this. But in some circumstances, these may be mandated or enforced, and that's because it's not entirely up to the person to make their own decisions about what they do if what they do can harm others. So here's a place where we have to balance, again, individual rights and protecting the health of the public. Next, I want to talk about the concept of justice. So we've talked about how contact tracing can include private confidential information about people, and it can also limit their autonomy. But it's for protection of the public health. And we can accept these things as long as what we're doing to protect public health is just. Let's talk a little bit about what justice means in the context of contact tracing. So the legal definition of justice is to act or to treat an individual justly or fairly, meaning that everyone should be treated the same way, independent of their race, ethnicity, creed, socioeconomic background, sexual orientation, or gender. Essentially, this means that everyone must receive the same treatment regardless of who they are. So some examples of justice and contact tracing mean that, contact tracers will attempt to find all cases and contacts regardless of religion, race, or sexual orientation. And this is because finding the cases and finding contacts is an important public health service. And cases and contacts benefit from this, so every one -- to be just, Everyone should get this service. In addition, all communities, regardless of wealth, for example, should have contact tracing efforts to reduce transmission. So this means that contact tracing should be done in all communities at risk. We can't just select some communities to do this and some communities not. To be just, it has to be applied, it has to be used to protect all communities and all populations. Now, let's define one more term before we move on, and that's public good. So the legal definition of a public good is anything that benefits or provides for the well-being of the public. Essentially, it means something that benefits everyone in the society. Contact tracing programs are an example of a public good, because they can reduce the risk to the public of being infected from SARS-coronavirus-2. They can reduce illness and deaths from COVID-19. So when we talk about contact tracing programs, we're talking about a public good. [MUSIC PLAYING]
