Conflict of Personal and Public Good as a Cause of Ethical Challenges in the Context the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

COVID-19 has changed the usual course of life for people around the world and made adjustments to the concept of human rights and freedoms. This article discusses the key ethical issues that humanity has had to face against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic. The central issue of the article is conflict of private interests (human rights and freedoms) and public (state) ones. Millions of people in different countries were infringed on their rights for the well-being of society as a whole: doctors around the world had to make a choice who to save; a huge number of companies closed due to self-isolation, which led to a significant increase in unemployment; hospitals concentrated on the fight against the new coronavirus, and therefore those suffering from other diseases began to receive the necessary amount of treatment, etc. The author of the article analyzes the problems arising from the pandemic and gives possible solutions.