Ethics in the pandemic: What's the value of a human life?
COVID-19 has tested our resilience – the resilience of our economy, of our businesses, of our families health and well-being, and the resilience of our leaders.
And the greatest tests are still to come, particularly as we wade through the process of re-opening economies across Canada and around the world. One of the major challenges will be balancing public health concerns with economic well being.
And that will pose a number of ethical conundrums. In many cases, our leaders will have to assess the value of a human life.
Kerry Bowman is a bio ethicist and professor at the UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO. He says we can't have ethics that apply during "normal" times and a different set of ethics in the face of an emergency.
How we use our outdoor space will have a direct effect on public transportation
Don't Fence Me In was written by Cole Porter and Robert Fletcher and Roy Rogers sang in the 1944 movie – Hollywood Canteen. The idea of wide open spaces has always been a metaphor for freedom and healthy living…
But here we are in the midst of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and we are rethinking the safety and security of our open spaces. Even when we stroll in the park, we’re told we need to keep our distance.
It’s forced us to rethink how we use outdoor public space, how we re-organize our urban infrastructure. It won’t just change the way we use our parks and parking lots – it will have a direct effect on the way urban transportation – both public and private – as we learn to live in the COVID era.
John Surico is a freelance journalist based in the UK. He writes about urban spaces and public transit for CITYLAB and the New York Times. He joins us from his office in London.