key: cord-1047214-1rdlwlvh
authors: del Castillo, Fides A
title: Virtues in public health: easing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
date: 2021-01-11
journal: J Public Health (Oxf)
DOI: 10.1093/pubmed/fdaa245
sha: 2ff9f328f15a4636dd689cff650d4d1789d5c222
doc_id: 1047214
cord_uid: 1rdlwlvh

Public health and ethics are commonly regarded as separate concepts. However, this paper argues that public health must be grounded in ethical virtues. The need to carefully integrate ethical practice in public health is a response to ease the negative impact of coronavirus disease 2019 to future generations. Hence, the virtue of compassion is proposed to hurdle the effects of the pandemic.

The current public health situation compels us to reflect on how humanity navigates the unchartered waters of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The recent article published in this journal advocates a proactive approach in responding to the challenges brought by COVID-19 as well as providing adequate support to the medical community. 1 However, being proactive also necessitates moral decisionmaking that is anchored upon ethics. The common practice is that public health focuses on populations rather than individuals, whereas ethics is concerned with the governance of a person's conduct. This delineation encourages the natural tendency to separate the two concepts. Yet, recent studies argue that public health policies should also be grounded on ethical actions such as collaboration. 2 Moreover, compelling reasons to adopt (virtue) ethical theories to public health were put forward by scholars, such as the need to (1) balance public health and individual rights, (2) mitigate the distance between public health professionals and the individuals targeted by policies and (3) share common values between public health professionals and citizens. 3 In response to the call for integrating virtue ethics to public health while the world reels from the effects of the pandemic, the author proposes a virtue ethic of compassion (See Table 1 ). With the rising number of COVID-19 infections, numerous deaths and the downward spiral of the economy in many countries, there is a need for sympathetic concern for the sufferings of others. This is necessary to successfully hurdle the 'third wave' of COVID-19. 4 A close examination on some of the responses to the COVID-19 pandemic shows apathy and indifference. A recent editorial on the collateral damage of COVID-19 points out the price that the younger generations have to pay in order to protect the older generations from the catastrophic effects of the pandemic. 5 Since virtue points to actions that are 'between 

None declared.

COVID-19 in Italy: an analysis of death registry data

Public health ethics: a flawed view of Kant's argument from autonomy

Public health and the virtues of responsibility, compassion and humility

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The collateral damage of COVID-19

None declared.