Social distancing, social justice, and risk during the COVID-19 pandemic

Social distancing is an important and necessary measure to help arrest the spread of SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it does place persons who are socially or politically marginalized, including those who are of lower socio-economic status, at risk of further harms. In other words, marginalized or disadvantaged persons are at risk of both contracting SARS-CoV-2 and the risk of harms that may come about because of the social distancing measures themselves. Finally, a third layer of risk faced by marginalized persons would be the overuse of utility (i.e., maximize the benefit of resource x) as the primary ethics principle upon which to make allocation decisions, since oftentimes it is resource-intensive to help those in positions of social marginality. This three-fold risk of harm to which marginalized persons are subjected runs counter to the very notion of social justice that underpins public health. Social distancing in a socially just manner requires dialoguing with affected populations and providing social supports to marginalized persons, regardless of the associated costs.