Health data processing in times of pandemic: relevant items

Abstract

Many privacy-related questions have arisen as a result of the unexpected and persistent global health crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, all these uncertainties seem to have one point in common, at least in a primordial way. Indeed, they stem from a series of questions that, even today, do not appear to have uncontroversial answers, at least in all their extremes, such as whether it is possible to process the health data of people who are infected or at risk of being infected, and whether the fundamental right to data protection represents an obstacle to the defence of citizens’ health by public authorities.