Current Events > Ethics around COVID

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Here are 5 moral/ethical questions/situations related to COVID and I'm curious about CE's answers:

1. You live alone and are currently working from home. Your friend lives with her elderly mother and is also working from home. Mutually, the two of you agree to hang out and watch a movie in close proximity. It turns out that you were an asymptomatic carrier after incidental contact at the grocery store (you were following the required safety measures). This movie watching leads to the mother getting sick and dying. If you were to assign 100 points of "blame", where would you assign them? Does your answer change if the "movie hang out" turned into a sexual encounter?
2. Your workplace is temporarily closed because the owner doesn't think it's safe for employees. Working at home isn't an option, but the owner continues to pay the workers. Is it unethical to take a second job that brings you in contact with people to utilize your newfound free time?
3. You have a co-worker who has been violating rules regarding mask requirements in your office. You aren't actually concerned about COVID spread but you don't like them as a person. Is it unethical to report them in hopes of getting them fired/reprimanded?
4. You are getting married. The originally scheduled date is almost here and when you looked into postponing, you find that your venue is all booked up Is it unethical to still have your wedding reception even if you say "I understand if you're unable to make it"?
5. Your child's school is going to online-only learning for the foreseeable future. Your workplace has explicitly stated that sick leave is not to be used for non-sickness based child care. Before COVID, they've pushed for people to use sick leave for "mental health" days because they think that decompressing from stress is important. Is it unethical to coordinate "mental health" days with your spouse in order to watch your child?

I'll give my own answers later. These are all situations that have come up in conversations around me, so I'm interested in what CE thinks.

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Bump

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No one here cares.

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i aint taking a test bro

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1. me if i was covid infected.
2. very unethical to take a 2nd job if it meant getting into contact with people
3. i would report them
4. it's not safe to have wedding.
5. yes.
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1. 50/50 you and the friend
2. I dont consider it ethical unless you're struggling financially
3. No, its fine. They're breaking a rule.
4. Unethical to have wedding.
5. Depends on how amicable your work place is to letting you take other available leave for that purpose. If you have no other option then you're just doing what you need to take care of family.

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Anticyclonic posted...

5. Depends on how amicable your work place is to letting you take other available leave for that purpose. If you have no other option then you're just doing what you need to take care of family.

This one is taken from my workplace, so I'll just outline the other options:

1. Use regular leave (no restrictions as long as you have it)
2. Use leave without pay (no restrictions)
3. Use (other leave) but for all practical purposes you should just consider this the same as option 1.

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1. 50% the person at the store that I caught it from, 25% me, 25% the other person. sex does not change this.
2. no. chances are that someone is going to be doing that job regardless. me doing the job rather than someone else has no bearing on the ethics here.
3. I take issue with the question. why would I be unconcerned with covid spread in the first place? I live in a place that has dealt with (and continues to deal with) covid extremely well, and I'm still concerned with the spread.
4. it's definitely not safe to have a wedding with a lot of people, but I don't know what specifically you're talking about regarding the ethics of the situation. are you asking if it's unethical to have your wedding even if you know that a lot of people will miss it due to the virus? or are you asking if it's unethical to have it in the first place, knowing that it's not safe to do so?
5. not in the slightest

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Anteaterking posted...

This one is taken from my workplace, so I'll just outline the other options:
1. Use regular leave (no restrictions as long as you have it)
2. Use leave without pay (no restrictions)
3. Use (other leave) but for all practical purposes you should just consider this the same as option 1.

Ideally, go for regular leave

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1. if you knew mom lived there, it's on both of you, but mostly on the mom's irresponsible kid.
2. do it. decline the "free" money if you're ashamed
3. do it
4. cancel the big wedding, and go have it done at the county courthouse.
5. ask a lawyer who's good with FMLA stuff

averagejoel posted...

50% the person at the store that I caught it from, 25% me, 25% the other person. sex does not change this.

No blame for the person who they caught it from?

averagejoel posted...

no. chances are that someone is going to be doing that job regardless. me doing the job rather than someone else has no bearing on the ethics here.

I think you're missing what the ethical dilemma is here which is that your boss is paying you to stay home rather than either work or go on unemployment because they're concerned for your safety, and you are choosing to take advantage of that concern.

averagejoel posted...

I take issue with the question. why would I be unconcerned with covid spread in the first place? I live in a place that has dealt with (and continues to deal with) covid extremely well, and I'm still concerned with the spread.

Idk because some people are dumb? The broader question is "Is it ethical to get someone fired/reprimanded for a rule you don't personally care about just because you don't like them?"

averagejoel posted...

it's definitely not safe to have a wedding with a lot of people, but I don't know what specifically you're talking about regarding the ethics of the situation. are you asking if it's unethical to have your wedding even if you know that a lot of people will miss it due to the virus? or are you asking if it's unethical to have it in the first place, knowing that it's not safe to do so?

It's the latter, with the idea that a wedding is different than e.g. a party in terms of the emotional weight that is attached for your guests.

Questionmarktarius posted...

cancel the big wedding, and go have it done at the county courthouse.

That's not actually answering the question.

Questionmarktarius posted...

ask a lawyer who's good with FMLA stuff

FMLA is unpaid leave so it doesn't apply to paid sick leave.

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1) 10% store infecter (assuming they were asymptomatic and wouldn't have had a good reason to know, such as having been around a confirmed case), 20% you, 70% friend
2) If you tell the boss, it's fine. If they choose to reduce their payments to you during this time, that would be understandable. If you do it without telling the people paying you for doing nothing, I would say it is unethical then.
3) You'd be a dick if you reported them for not wearing a mask. But, being a dick isn't necessarily unethical.
4) It would be unethical to be over capacity of social distancing and or not requiring masks. If you did like an outdoor socially distanced wedding with masks, that wouldn't be unethical.
5) Not unethical. Your mental health aligning with your child's educational needs is fine.

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averagejoel posted...

1. 50% the person at the store that I caught it from, 25% me, 25% the other person. sex does not change this.

This for number one.

2=I need something to do and paying me to be at home doesn't give me something to do, so if I want to take a second job, I think that's perfectly acceptable. That might work for some people, but not everyone is the same.

3=If someone is doing something wrong (breaking rules) it's perfectly ethical to report them for doing so, regardless of your reason to do it. If they don't want punishment, they shouldn't be breaking the rules.

4=As long as both members of the couple getting married agree, it's completely ethical. They just shouldn't expect (or want for that matter) a big reception.

5=Not unethical at all regardless of what type of leave you take. Family is much more important than work and comes first. You do whatever you need to do to take care of your family first. Your job should not feel they have the right to get in the way of that.

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I should clarify because it was apparent to me because I was contextualizing it to where I work, but "sick leave" in this case means paid sick leave. As noted, you can take unlimited unpaid time off.

dragwarrfan posted...

2=I need something to do and paying me to be at home doesn't give me something to do, so if I want to take a second job, I think that's perfectly acceptable. That might work for some people, but not everyone is the same.

I mean would you do it if the response from your boss was to stop paying you for not working?


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