Growing Concern During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Data Privacy
Fedayi Yağar · Turkiye Klinikleri Journal of Health Sciences · 2021
The aim of the study was to examine data privacy which has become a subject of debate with the COVID-19 pandemic. While evaluating data privacy, it is considered that there is a balance between data privacy and public health in a pandemic crisis, where latter outweighs the former. Therefore, mostly the period following the pandemic was focused and which significant issues to be taken into consideration in terms of eliminating the possible negative impacts of data policies implemented today were discussed in the study. Firstly, mobile applications (such as TraceTogether and PEPP-PT) or technological infrastructures developed to track patients and provide their filings in South Korea, Taiwan, China, Europe and Singapore were explained. Increased concerns about data privacy have been expressed with such approaches. Four main matters were determined to be considered with regard to the technological applications being used as a part of COVID19 response efforts. These are: 1) Complying with regulations and international health guidelines, 2) Having transparent data collection and processing conditions, 3) Using anonymized mobile geodata, and 4) Conducting data quality and security controls. It is believed that paying attention to these matters will be beneficial after the pandemic or while developing new applications. In addition, together with the consideration of these issues and preparation of the necessary infrastructure, it has been seen that telemedicine applications can be an important power in the fight against COVID-19. It is emphasized that it can make an important contribution in controlling outbreaks and preventing unnecessary use of health services.