Proportionality

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. During crises, such as pandemics or environmental disasters, governments must act swiftly to prevent disease and death, often with incomplete information. The principle of proportionality serves as the established legal and ethical standard for navigating this balance. However, during times of severe crisis and uncertainty, determining the proportionality of public health actions is extremely complex, particularly when decisions are made without conclusive evidence or uniformly applicable international standards. In Proportionality, Nikola Biller-Andorno, Julian W. März, Corine Mouton-Dorey, and Stéphanie Dagron bring together 49 scholars and practitioners from around the world to explore how proportionality can guide and shape decision-making under crisis conditions. As they argue, a fundamental challenge in this domain is reconciling the obligation to foster population health through disease prevention, detection, and intervention with the imperative to respect and protect individual rights, including autonomy and privacy. Thus, the chapters in this volume highlight the principle and the process of proportionality, in order to guide decision-making and apply proportionate measures in the face of future public health crises, whether infectious, ecological, or linked to armed conflict. This volume not only develops the key concept of proportionality from the perspectives of law, human rights, philosophy, public health ethics, and political science, but it also looks at specific proportionality issues, such as freedom of movement, gender equity, children's rights and disease prevention. Examining how governments and health authorities navigate the delicate balance between protecting public health and safeguarding individual rights in times of crisis, Proportionality provides a comprehensive analysis on the topic. Further, it aims to guide the development of public health policies that are effective, equitable, and respectful of human rights.

Introduction, Nikola Biller-Andorno, Julian W. März, Corine Mouton-Dorey, and Stéphanie Dagron1. Proportionality and Uncertainty in Physical Distancing Policies in US States, Justin Bernstein, Athmeya Jayaram, Brian Hutler, Jeff Jones, Travis Rieder, and Anne Barnhill2. Proportionality and Resource Allocation in a Pandemic: The Example of Chile, Rodrigo López Barreda and Luca Valera3. Proportionality in Public Health Ethics, Fear, and State of Exception: A Critical Narrative Approach, Silvia Camporesi4. Perceptions of Proportionality: An Empirical Study of Swiss Residents' Moral Considerations about COVID-19 Containment Measures, Corine Mouton-Dorey, Bettina Schwind, Giovanni Spitale, Kristen Jafflin, and Nikola Biller-Andorno5. Proportionality and the Need for Evidence: A Case Study of Outdoor Public Health Interventions for Respiratory Viruses in Australia, Euzebiusz Jamrozik6. Inaction and the Proportionality Principle: A Review of the Management of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Mexico, Felicitas Holzer, Ivette María Ortiz Alcántara, Tobias Eichinger, Nikola Biller-Andorno, and Julian W. März7. Public Health Proportionality for Sexual and Gender Minority Youth, Stewart Adelson, Alice Miller, Daniel Newton, and Graeme Reid8. Responding Proportionately to the COVID-19 Pandemic in UK Long-Stay Inpatient Pediatric Wards, Heather Draper, Caroline Redhead, Anna Chiumento, Sara Fovargue, and Lucy Frith9. Proportionality in Public Health Law: A Case Study of Singapore's Travel Restrictions for Migrant Healthcare Workers, Hui Yun Chan10. COVID-19 Restrictions in Long-Term Care Facilities in the United States: Unintended Consequences and Possible Lessons, Jakub P. Hlávka, Yimin Ge, Shengjia Xu, and Alexander M. Capron11. Proportionality Behind Locked Doors: Nursing Homes, Fundamental Rights, and Visit Restrictions During the Coronavirus Pandemic, Settimio Monteverde12. Mobile Vaccination Teams in Long-Term Care Homes for the Elderly in Germany During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Jonathan Hunger and Eva Kuhn13. Proportionality of the COVID-19 Measures: The European Court of Human Rights' Approach, Helen Keller and Viktoryia Gurash14. Proportionality and the Swiss Courts, Helen Keller and Violetta Sefkow-Werner15. The Right to Privacy, Contact Tracing, and Public Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Israeli Case, Shelly Kamin-Friedman, Maya Peled-Raz, and Nadav Davidovitch16. The Principle of Proportionality and the Digitalization of Epidemic Countermeasures in Hong Kong Special Administrative Regions, Calvin Ho17. Proportionality, Epidemiological Research, and Data Protection in a Pandemic, Fruzsina Molnár-Gábor18. (Dis)proportionate Abortion Care Regulation and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Great Britain, Jordan Parsons and Chloe Romanis19. A Proportional Response?: Abortion Exceptionalism, Telemedicine, and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Great Britain, Rishita Nandagiri and Luc- -a Berro Pizzarossa