COVID-19

_{Photo Credit: Associated Press}

As the pandemic wreaks havoc on society, our health care system, and the economy, critical trade-offs must be identified and considered. Ethics Center staff and scholars offer their analysis of many of these challenges in this Ethics Spotlight.

Video Series: Essential Ethics: Perspectives from the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

Triaging Covid-19: The Ethical Allocation of Life-Sustaining Resources: LinkedIn LIVE discussion featured panelists Daniel Shin, MD, Infectious Diseases specialist, Palo Alto Medical Foundation and Margaret R. McLean, PhD, associate director and director of Bioethics and moderated by David DeCosse, PhD, director of Religious and Catholic Ethics.

Journalism, Media, and COVID-19: Part 1: Anita Varma: How do journalists fill in the gaps when there's information overload with COVID-19 coverage?

Journalism, Media, and COVID-19: Part 2: Subbu Vincent: The difficulties of reporting on a pandemic in a live, breaking-news, and social media world.

Perspectives

Emergency Relief for Small Businesses and Nonprofits: Shouldn’t we be helping those that need it the most? by Joan Harrington, director of Social Sector Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

Pandemics and the Ethics of Risk: How Much Risk Tolerance Is the Right Amount? by Brian Patrick Green, director of Technology Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University.

Love and Fear in a Time of Coronavirus by Bill Dohar, senior lecturer with the School of Religious Studies at Santa Clara University.

Five Ethical Basics about Hard Health Care Choices in a Time of Pandemic by David E. DeCosse, director of the Religious & Catholic Ethics and Campus Ethics programs at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

Ethical Followership in Times of Crisis by Ann Skeet, senior director of Leadership Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

Privacy Perspectives on Contact Tracing as Pandemic Response by Irina Raicu, director of Internet Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

What To Do When the Numbers in the News Become Benumbing by Anita Varma, assistant director of Journalism & Media Ethics and Social Sector Ethics

Does COVID-19 Illustrate the Moral Necessity of Using Tech for More Expansive Forms of Public Health Surveillance?  by Shannon Valor, the Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence at the Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) and affiliate scholar with Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.

Communication in the Time of COVID-19: Some Reflections on Ethics by Rohit Chopra, associate professor in the Department of Communication at Santa Clara University and a Faculty Scholar at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.

Reflections in a Time of Quarantine by Oscar Bulaong, professor of philosophy at the Ateneo de Manila University and a former Visiting Scholar with the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

Weighing Values in the Midst of a Pandemic by Don Heider, executive director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University

How the Coronavirus Pandemic Inspires Us to be More Ethical at Work and in Life by Ann Skeet, senior director of Leadership Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics (as published on Marketwatch)

The #Coronavirus Exposes an Unhealthy Commonality Between Breaking News and Social Media by Subbu Vincent, the director of journalism & media ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.

Five Ethical Basics in the Face of the Coronavirus Pandemic by David E. DeCosse, director of the Religious & Catholic Ethics and Campus Ethics programs at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

Coronavirus: Lessons from Italy by Margaret McLean, director of Bioethics and associate director of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

The Social and The Distancing: Internet Ethics in a Time of Crisis by Irina Raicu, director of Internet Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

A Call to Calm: The Moral Imperative of Emotional Resilience by Hannah Warnecke, a former Hackworth Fellow at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and currently an ICU nurse in Denver, CO

Ethical Leadership Practices in a Pandemic by Ann Skeet, senior director of Leadership Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

Compassion and COVID-19: Tales from the Pandemic by the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics staff

Public Health Justice in Pandemic Times by the faculty of the Public Health Program at Santa Clara University

The Value of Slow Journalism During a Rapidly Developing Story of Pandemic by Anita Varma, assistant director of Journalism & Media Ethics and Social Sector Ethics

Ethical Giving in a Pandemic: Give Now, Give Generously, Give without Strings by Joan Harrington, director of Social Sector Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

“Othering,” Bad and Good, the Coronavirus by Ann Mongoven, associate director of Health Care Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics

Related Resources

Is it Selfish to Go Outside, and Other Ethical Questions Raised by the COVID-19 Pandemic interview with Margaret R. McLean, Ph.D. (as published in Newsweek)

Covid-19 and its Impact on Transportation, Trucking and the Overall Economy interview with Ann Skeet (as heard on Transport Topics Radio)

The Branding of a Pandemic: What Works and What Doesn’t co-authored by Vikram R. Bhargava, faculty scholar of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and assistant professor of management & entrepreneurship at the Leavey School of Business and Suneal Bedi is assistant professor of business law and ethics at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, (as published in the San Francisco Chronicle)

Coronavirus Proves Inequality is a Public Health Threat by Ann Mongoven (as published in the Mercury News)

Coronavirus Containment and Impact on Unhoused Populations interview with Ann Mongoven (as seen on Vice News Tonight)

5 Suggestions for Covering the Coronavirus by Anita Varma 

Lessons from the SARS outbreak in 2003 by Margaret McLean (as published in the San Francisco Chronicle)

Coronavirus is a physical and spiritual threat by Tom Reese (as published in Religion News Service)

Ethical Preparedness for Pandemic Influenza: A Toolkit by Margaret McLean 

The Ethical Quagmire of Quarantine by Margaret McLean 

The Coming Pandemic: Ethical Preparedness by Margaret McLean 

Allocating Resources — A Wicked Problem by Margaret McLean (as published in Health Progress)