Sample Solution

One of the major ethical and social dilemmas related to the COVID-19 pandemic is that of contact tracing. Contact tracing involves tracking the contacts of individuals who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in order to help limit its spread (Koenig & Watson 2020). This practice raises many ethical questions about privacy rights, intrusive surveillance, and potential discrimination against certain groups such as racial minorities or those from lower socio-economic backgrounds (Cooper et al. 2020).

From a legal perspective, contact tracing also presents issues related to data security and accuracy as well as possible violations of existing laws such as HIPAA which protects people’s medical information (U .S Department Of Health And Human services 2019). Additionally, there are concerns surrounding the use of technology for this purpose since it can be difficult to ensure data remains secure when dealing with outside vendors (Koenig & Watson 2020). As such, states must carefully consider how they approach contact tracing while also ensuring their methods comply with all applicable laws.

Finally, on a social level, contact tracing has elicited mixed reactions due to its potential violation of personal liberties. Some argue that it is necessary in order to reduce infection rates while others believe it undermines basic civil rights and could lead to an increase in other forms of state monitoring (Culnan & Bies 2018). Despite these disagreements, however, it is clear that contact tracing is one issue among many that our society will need to grapple with during this pandemic.