5 Important Things You Need To Know About COVID-19 Legal Rights
There are several guidelines issued by the OCR and IACHR to respect the human and civil rights of everyone in this pandemic. Many people are unaware of their legal rights. If you are one of them, continue reading.
From the very beginning, many preventive measures have been taken to prevent the spreading of coronavirus. Although different health organizations issued general health guidelines such as wearing a mask, maintaining social distance, sanitizing, most people don’t know about their legal rights during this pandemic.
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COVID-19 Legal Rights
By the end of this article, you will learn about the COVID-19 legal rights. In case you need legal advice, don’t hesitate to consult a personal injury lawyer in NYC.
Non-Discrimination to Access to the COVID-19 Vaccine
According to the federal civil rights laws, there should not be any kind of discrimination to access the COVID-19 vaccine. Irrespective of your color, gender, race, sex, national origin, everyone has the right to access the vaccine without any discrimination.
Office of civil rights issued various guidelines for the protection of civil rights of citizens during the pandemic. You can learn more about it from the official website of OCR. As per the guidelines, the persons who have limited English proficiency and persons with disabilities have the right to access the health program equally as others.
Human Rights of Persons With COVID-19
A person with COVID-19 is entitled to get the best healthcare service and treatment. Individuals who are affected by the disease shouldn’t be discriminated against and treated in a disrespectful way. As per the human rights law, the States should take all the preventive measures and proper healthcare attention both to the patients and the public.
Also, the patients should get continuous monitoring so as to avoid further deterioration of the health. Hospitals need to provide appropriate and timely medical services and life support to the COVID-19 patients. Again, the State should keep the medical record of COVID-19 patients private and protect their personal data.
Rights of Healthcare Workers and Caregivers
Apart from patients, healthcare professionals and caregivers who provide services to patients have rights as well. They should have daily health checkups, disinfection equipment, and biosecurity protocols to ensure their safety. For their protection, their work environment should be disinfected and kept clean.
Along with that, the labor rights of healthcare workers include their job stability, enough financial remuneration, and more. Although the work pressure has increased for health workers, they shouldn’t be forced to work if they are not healthy. In the public interest, they should get mental support and social recognition for their hard work.
You Have the Rights to Ask Others to Wear Mask
When there is no such clear and specified way to prevent coronavirus, we need to be careful about the preventive measures. Likewise, you have the right to stop someone from smoking in a public place; you also have the right to ask a person to wear a preventive mask.
Even if you wear a mask, the coronavirus can still spread if someone sneezes without a mask. Next time, when you see someone not wearing a mask, you can tell them to wear a mask. Since they are violating the public health law, legal actions can be taken against them.
Rights to Ask Others to Maintain Social Distance
Another preventive measure of COVID-19 is to maintain social distance. Despite the fact that the World Health Organization has stated the guidelines to keep social distance while going outside, many people are still not obeying the law.
So, whenever you are outside and if someone is violating this guideline, you can ask them to maintain social distance. However, you should not fight with someone on this matter, but you can politely say to others to keep your distance. Also, you should follow the rule and keep an appropriate distance from others.
The Bottom Line
Hopefully, the above information has helped you to know about the COVID-19 legal rights. So, you should keep these things in mind and take necessary action if you are waived off your rights. Please don’t forget to share your opinion on this post in the comments section.
