Marlon Patrick Lofredo

The rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 and its corresponding COVID-19 is challenging national preparedness and response ability to pandemics. No one is prepared well, but governments around the world must respond as effectively and efficiently as possible to pandemics, and every occurrence of such worldwide disease must be a lesson for preparedness. While plans and programs may be in place to arrest the rapid spread of the virus, the success of any state intervention relies much on how cohesive the society is, how trusting the people are, and how trustworthy the government is. Social cohesion begets trust, and trust engenders obedience and calm. The absence of social cohesion produces social unrest and social erosion, lack or absence of social trust creates risk societies, disobedience. When these conditions exist, the spread of a virus is inevitable. Furthermore, they create a pandemic of confusion and fear, of stigmatization and discrimination. The ways that nations respond to the pandemic today and how the society responds to state actions will principally determine their lots and destinies in the next decades or even in the next elections. The pandemic reveals the quality of leaders and people a nation has. Governments that are successful at controlling the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and minimizing fatalities of COVID-19 will enjoy even more social cohesion and public trust, while those that deferred vigorous interventions to control its spread will see greater social stress and distrust, resulting in the paralyzation of the public’s faith in leaders and government institutions.

The principle of confidentiality and privacy of medical data is an important patient safeguard, and it is rooted in fundamental human rights and ethics principles. The call for the voluntary waiving of confidentiality and privacy by COVID+ and suspected patients by involved healthcare and legal organizations in the Philippines has put into the debate table its ethical and legal permissibility. The common rule is confidentiality and privacy of information is not absolute, and there are laws delineating specific grounds for its permissible breaching. The basic ground for breaching is the primacy of public health and safety over individual right to privacy. The common good remains the primary consideration when conflict between principles occur in cases of pandemics like COVDI-19. But care must be taken to ensure that patients are not discriminated and stigmatized as a result of the breach of confidentiality and privacy of medical data. The rule of thumb given by the Philippine National privacy Commission is gather only what is necessary and disclose only to proper authorities. Breaching does not mean disclosed data is universally accessible. Governments must ensure that confidentiality remains protected even when such right is temporarily withheld as demanded by the principles of respect for persons, human dignity, autonomy, and justice.