Surveillance, Medical Sociology and COVID-19

Abstract

This paper examines various issues related to COVID-19 from the perspective of medical sociology, with a particular focus on surveillance. The social burden of disease is not only determined by biomedical factors, but is greatly influenced by cultural, social, and economic backgrounds and disparities. This “syndemic” perspective is also important in COVID-19, and biomedical strategies including vaccines and social distancing should be relativized. Here, we analyze the impact of social distancing in COVID-19 pandemic on society as two models of intervention: lockdown and monitoring surveillance. In particular, monitoring surveillance was analyzed from the perspectives of (1) surveillance of the digital data rather than the body (dataveillance), (2) substantial inclusion of society by digital surveillance (surveillance culture), and (3) active involvement of the target subjects in surveillance (self-tracking).