Old and new rituals throughout the covid-19 pandemic

This chapter shows how rituals are places, hubs of communication and negotiation, but they are also sources of monetary exchange as soon as a ritual is tamed and transformed by the market system. The transhumanist movements have seized upon the particular ritual of death with a philosophical idea derived from religion, which is to establish immortality by making the most perfect copy of a human possible and tofight the idea of death. The decline of traditional rituals seems to be essentially a permanent human search for freedom from taboos and constraints, from everything that seems established, unchangeable and outdated in order to achieve greater individual freedom. Rituals are constantly being reinvented through technology. In contemporary society, there is a desire - sometimes rather clumsy - to create new rituals. The rational, rationalist, Cartesian dominance of our industrial societies seems to favor laws and regulations to the detriment of rituals. © ISTE Ltd 2022.

COVID-19: Individual freedom and herd culture

Pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical measures recommended by health agencies to contain the COVID-19 pandemic are rejected by some citizens and political leaders and have been the subject of protests. The argument used is the defense of individual freedoms such as the right not to be vaccinated, wear a face mask, or respect quarantine. This article analyzes such actions from the perspective of negative liberty and counterposes the advantages of positive liberty, such as the self-imposition of restrictions in the interests of collective well-being. The article argues that the exercise of negative liberty in relation to vaccination produces cost and benefit asymmetries between the unvaccinated and vaccinated, with the former placing the latter at risk and transferring the cost of their decision to others, while the latter produces herd immunity, reducing the possibility of infection and providing protection and benefits to the unvaccinated. Drawing on concepts from sociology that differentiate between disease (a physiological malfunction), illness (the subjective experience of a disease), and sickness (when a disease is recognized and accepted by society), it is argued that herd culture is created when a biological disease and illness is transformed into a social sickness. Herd culture as the exercise of positive liberty and respect for the rights of others is a necessary complement to herd immunity in a democratic society. © 2022 Academia Nacional de Medicina. All rights reserved.

Individual Freedom in the Initial Response to Covid-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a phenomenal challenge to global health care and will continue to be so in the upcoming months. Beyond its medical toll, COVID-19 has also exacerbated pre-existing social issues and created new inequalities. This has generated a series of ethical problems that will need to be carefully analyzed to avoid repeating similar mistakes in the context of other crises. Among those, we discuss here the bioethical implications of preserving individual freedom in the context of the early response to a pandemic and propose a global approach to the issue that could be applied in future health challenges.

Face masks in the general healthy population. Scientific and ethical issues.

In most European countries, facemasks use is recommended or mandatory in enclosed spaces where physical distancing is not possible. In Spain, this measure was first extended to open public spaces and later made mandatory regardless of whether or not the interpersonal safety distance can be kept. At present, there is no evidence on the effectiveness of universal masking of healthy people in the community to prevent infection with respiratory viruses, including SARS-CoV-2. The mandatory use of masks poses some ethical questions. Firstly, it entails a paternalistic action. Secondly, application of the principle of precaution becomes questionable when there is no clear benefit-risk relationship. Thirdly, compulsoriness can interfere with equity of public health actions. Fourthly, it can result in social stigma and discrimination against those who do not wear one, even though they well may have good reasons for doing so. Lastly, this measure may generate confusion in the population, along with an altered perception of the risk. The World Health Organization recommends its use in public places with a high potential risk of transmission and where other prevention measures, such as physical distancing, are not possible. Mandatory use of masks in public open spaces, regardless of the risk of transmission or of whether or not the interpersonal safety distance can be kept, is an intrusive measure that restricts individual freedoms, and would not appear to be justified on the basis of available scientific evidence. What we need are recommendations explaining where, when, how and what type of mask to wear.