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    Legal and ethical implications of wastewater monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 for COVID-19 surveillance.

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    Author
    Gable, Lance
    Ram, Natalie
    Ram, Jeffrey L
    Date
    2020-06-24
    Journal
    Journal of Law and the Biosciences
    Publisher
    Oxford University Press
    Type
    Article
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    See at
    https://doi.org/10.1093/jlb/lsaa039
    Abstract
    Scientists have observed that molecular markers for COVID-19 can be detected in wastewater of infected communities both during an outbreak and, in some cases, before the first case is confirmed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other government entities are considering whether to add community surveillance through wastewater monitoring to assist in tracking disease prevalence and guiding public health responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. This scientific breakthrough may lead to many useful potential applications for tracking disease, intensifying testing, initiating social distancing or quarantines, and even lifting restrictions once a cessation of infection is detected and confirmed. Yet, new technologies developed in response to a public health crisis may raise difficult legal and ethical questions about how such technologies may impact both the public health and civil liberties of the population. This paper describes recent scientific evidence regarding COVID-19 detection in wastewater, identifying public health benefits that may result from this breakthrough, as well as the limitations of existing data. The paper then assesses the legal and ethical implications of implementing policy based on positive sewage signals. It concludes that the first step to implementing legal and ethical wastewater monitoring is to develop scientific understanding. Even if reliability and efficacy are established, limits on sample and data collection, use, and sharing must also be considered to prevent undermining privacy and autonomy in order to implement these public health strategies consistent with legal and ethical considerations.
    Rights/Terms
    © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Duke University School of Law, Harvard Law School, Oxford University Press, and Stanford Law School. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
    Keyword
    monitoring
    privacy
    public health
    quarantine
    sewage
    surveillance
    Identifier to cite or link to this item
    http://hdl.handle.net/10713/14205
    ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
    10.1093/jlb/lsaa039
    Scopus Count
    Collections
    UMB Coronavirus Publications
    UMB Open Access Articles 2020

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