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Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 10, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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There are contexts in which testing for various diseases is mandatory. It might be COVID screening, it might be something else, but certain services can well be denied to you on the grounds that you refuse a test.

In the particular case of AIDS, the worst of it was before we had tests available AFAIK, and right now, it is nowhere near the level of crisis worth sacrificing civil liberties for in most contexts.

If we had an AIDS equivalent about that was significantly more contagious, such as being transmitted airborne or by close contact, and tests for it, I would have few qualms about making testing mandatory for participation in civic life.

If I had to think of a solution to the spread of STDs, I would suggest an annual screening program available to everyone. Participation would be encouraged, but not mandatory, but if you skipped it and then infected someone with such a disease (presuming at least that the incubation is long enough you weren't plausibly infected after the screen was due), then you'd have the book thrown at you.

You could modulate the penalty on the basis of the severity of the particular disease, whether you had other reason to suspect that you could be infected or at high risk and so on.

For example, you're a gay hooker who consistently refuses to get assessed? All well and good, but if you manage to infect someone, then you deserve to be punished more severely.

I don't think such a system is the most pressing thing to implement, perhaps if there's a new and particularly annoying STD around.

The UK has some sensible options, such as mandatory reporting to contacts while keeping the anonymity of the person initially diagnosed. They get something like a text message telling them they're potentially at risk of an infection and to come in for a screen, but who infected them isn't outright disclosed. For more personal contacts, like the spouse of a person who is hiding their HIV, then the doctor is obligated to inform them no matter the protestations involved.