About this Research Topic
Like the virus itself, the issues that the pandemic raises are moving targets with factors and conditions changing over time, often due to unprecedented necessity. Hollywood and some percipient billionaires have been predicting this event for some time, and some of the issues that we are now facing have been raised before, but not taken seriously enough. Even with their foresight, we were far from ready for the many ethical, legal, and social concerns that have arisen.
The question is, when is the next event like this, and will we be ready for that one. Especially pertinent is what we have learned from this experience, both good and bad.
This issue will collect papers from those who would like to make sure that we are ready, or at least trying to get there.
The aim of this topic is to summarize the ethical information related to triage, contact tracing, quarantine measures, international law changes as we are going through coronavirus pandemic, and to reassess what we have seen thus far in light of this new knowledge.
We welcome, amongst the others, original research articles, reviews, and commentaries on ethical, legal, and social implications of :
1. Massive genomic screening and data privacy during a pandemic
2. Biobanking access and data privacy
3. Contact tracing and geolocalisation
4. Patients triage and prioritization
5. Quarantine measures
6. Drug and vaccine development during pandemics
7. Mitigation measures such as full and partial closures
8. Pandemic infrastructure and it usefulness post-pandemic
9. Distance learning, especially in the biosciences
Fee support is available via application to authors who do not have the means to pay the full APCs. Please apply via the following form: https://fro.ntiers.in/support
Keywords: covid-19, pandemic, ESLI, patient screening, data privacy, contact tracing, quarantine measures, lockdown, drug and vaccine development
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.