Philosophers of medicine have formulated different accounts of the concept of disease. Which concept of disease one assumes has implications for what conditions count as diseases and, by extension, who may be regarded as having a disease (disease judgements) and for who may be accorded the social privileges and personal responsibilities associated with being sick (sickness judgements). In this article, we consider an ideal diagnostic test for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection with respect to four groups of people—positive and asymptomatic; positive and symptomatic; negative; and untested—and show how different concepts of disease impact on the disease and sickness judgements for these groups. The suggestion is that sickness judgements and social measures akin to those experienced during the current COVID-19 outbreak presuppose a concept of disease containing social (risk of) harm as a component. We indicate the problems that arise when adopting this kind of disease concept beyond a state of emergency.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, pandemic, Concept of disease, Harm, Sick role, 【초록키워드】 coronavirus disease, Coronavirus disease 2019, diagnostic test, Infection, diagnostic, risk, Asymptomatic, COVID-19 outbreak, disease, Emergency, state of emergency, Sickness, problems, measure, problem, four groups, component, extension, positive, suggestion, implication, the disease, condition, sick, groups, four group, Philosopher, 【제목키워드】 disease,