TY - JOUR
T1 - Digital tools against COVID-19
T2 - taxonomy, ethical challenges, and navigation aid
AU - Gasser, Urs
AU - Ienca, Marcello
AU - Scheibner, James
AU - Sleigh, Joanna
AU - Vayena, Effy
PY - 2020/8
Y1 - 2020/8
N2 - Data collection and processing via digital public health technologies are being promoted worldwide by governments and private companies as strategic remedies for mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic and loosening lockdown measures. However, the ethical and legal boundaries of deploying digital tools for disease surveillance and control purposes are unclear, and a rapidly evolving debate has emerged globally around the promises and risks of mobilising digital tools for public health. To help scientists and policy makers to navigate technological and ethical uncertainty, we present a typology of the primary digital public health applications that are in use. These include proximity and contact tracing, symptom monitoring, quarantine control, and flow modelling. For each, we discuss context-specific risks, cross-sectional issues, and ethical concerns. Finally, recognising the need for practical guidance, we propose a navigation aid for policy makers and other decision makers for the ethical development and use of digital public health tools.
AB - Data collection and processing via digital public health technologies are being promoted worldwide by governments and private companies as strategic remedies for mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic and loosening lockdown measures. However, the ethical and legal boundaries of deploying digital tools for disease surveillance and control purposes are unclear, and a rapidly evolving debate has emerged globally around the promises and risks of mobilising digital tools for public health. To help scientists and policy makers to navigate technological and ethical uncertainty, we present a typology of the primary digital public health applications that are in use. These include proximity and contact tracing, symptom monitoring, quarantine control, and flow modelling. For each, we discuss context-specific risks, cross-sectional issues, and ethical concerns. Finally, recognising the need for practical guidance, we propose a navigation aid for policy makers and other decision makers for the ethical development and use of digital public health tools.
KW - Digital tools
KW - COVID-19
KW - taxonomy
KW - ethical challenges
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85087752932&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S2589-7500(20)30137-0
DO - 10.1016/S2589-7500(20)30137-0
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85087752932
SN - 2589-7500
VL - 2
SP - e425-e434
JO - The Lancet Digital Health
JF - The Lancet Digital Health
IS - 8
ER -