COVID-19 and the ethics of quarantine: a lesson from the Eyam plague.

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  • Author(s): Spitale G;Spitale G
  • Source:
    Medicine, health care, and philosophy [Med Health Care Philos] 2020 Dec; Vol. 23 (4), pp. 603-609.
  • Publication Type:
    Historical Article; Journal Article
  • Language:
    English
  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Kluwer Academic Publishers Country of Publication: Netherlands NLM ID: 9815900 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1572-8633 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 13867423 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Med Health Care Philos Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Original Publication: Dordrecht ; Boston : Kluwer Academic Publishers, c1998-
    • Subject Terms:
      Coronavirus Infections/*prevention & control ; Pandemics/*prevention & control ; Plague/*history ; Pneumonia, Viral/*prevention & control ; Quarantine/*history; COVID-19 ; England/epidemiology ; History, 17th Century ; Humans ; Infection Control/methods ; London/epidemiology ; Plague/prevention & control ; Public Health/ethics ; Quarantine/ethics
    • Abstract:
      The recent outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus is posing many different challenges to local communities, directly affected by the pandemic, and to the global community, trying to find how to respond to this threat in a larger scale. The history of the Eyam Plague, read in light of Ross Upshur's Four Principles for the Justification of Public Health Intervention, and of the Siracusa Principles on the Limitation and Derogation Provisions in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, could provide useful guidance in navigating the complex ethical issues that arise when quarantine measures need to be put in place.
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    • Grant Information:
      31CA30_195905 Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: COVID-19; Eyam; History of epidemiology; History of medicine; Plague; Public health ethics; SARS-CoV-2
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20200808 Date Completed: 20201016 Latest Revision: 20210110
    • Publication Date:
      20240628
    • Accession Number:
      PMC7405927
    • Accession Number:
      10.1007/s11019-020-09971-2
    • Accession Number:
      32761351