# Who We Test For: Aligning Relational and Public Health Responsibilities in COVID-19 Testing in Scotland

## TL;DR

This paper examines how people in Scotland participated in asymptomatic COVID-19 testing by balancing personal and public responsibilities.

## Contribution

The study introduces a novel perspective on testing as a relational technology that bridges personal and public health responsibilities.

## Key findings

- Participants viewed testing as a way to manage responsibilities to various social groups.
- Successful testing programs require aligning interpersonal and public health scales.
- The study highlights the importance of relational governance in public health initiatives.

## Abstract

COVID-19 testing programs in the UK often called on people to test to “protect others.” In this article we explore motivations to test and the relationships to “others” involved in an asymptomatic testing program at a Scottish university. We show that participants engaged with testing as a relational technology, through which they navigated multiple overlapping responsibilities to kin, colleagues, flatmates, strangers, and to more diffuse publics. We argue that the success of testing as a technique of governance depends not only on the production of disciplined selves, but also on the program’s capacity to align interpersonal and public scales of responsibility.