능동적 환자의 요청: ‘코로나19와 함께 살기’와 관련하여

Abstract

The power and damage of the Covid-19 pandemic seem to be gradually disappearing. However, the Covid-19 virus will continue to exist in many societies. We are entering an era when we should seriously consider “living with Covid-19” or co-existence with the Covid-19 virus. Then, what does co-existing with the virus mean? We frame the chronicity of the infectious diseases when it cannot be eradicated and spread to society and argue that individuals need to actively coordinate their lives to cope with this rampanting infectious disease. However, there are ideas that need to be clarified for this argument. In particular, it is necessary to critically examine the traditional assumption of passive patient. In order to overcome this, the paper reviews concepts of medical responsibility, active patient, and chronicity of infectious disease and synthesizes them to present the individuals enacting life within infectious disease.