The Duty to Protect from Deprivation

Building on the framework of sources of harm introduced in Chapter 4 , here I consider the ways in which individual duty bearers may protect one another from harm during a pandemic. With reference to public health guidelines in a range of locations, I examine the costs that were placed on duty bearers during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the distribution of those burdens amongst different demographics, and the extent to which those burdens were accepted, if at all. In doing so, I reference the significant controversy that emerged because of seemingly innocuous expectations of behaviour, such as requirements to wear face masks in public places, and consider the legitimate extent of what we may be asked to do in order to protect other people. Where Chapter 4 largely focused on institutional failures of the duty to avoid depriving, this chapter will focus on the duties owed by individual agents to protect other people from the threat of infectious disease. I argue that the practical requirements of the duty to protect from deprivation as it applies to the basic right to health care can be divided into three categories.