U.S. Lockdowns Trigger Surge in Domestic Violence
FRIDAY, April 10, 2020 (HealthDay News) — People sheltering in place to avoid the threat of COVID-19 are finding themselves trapped with a more familiar source of danger — their own spouse or parent.
Domestic violence reports have skyrocketed around the globe as coronavirus lockdowns force victims into weeks-long close contact with their abusers, experts say.
It’s grown so dire that NPR reported that United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a call earlier this week for governments to address domestic violence as a key part of their pandemic response.
“For many women and girls, the threat looms largest where they should be safest, in their own homes,” Guterres said.
“We know lockdowns and quarantines are essential to suppressing COVID-19, but they can trap women with abusive partners,” Guterres continued. “Over the past weeks, as the economic and social pressures and fear have grown, we have seen a horrifying surge in domestic violence.”
Police departments and hospital emergency rooms are seeing firsthand the results of domestic violence during a pandemic, said Lori Post, a professor of emergency medicine and director of the Buehler Center for Health Policy and Economics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
“The nature of injuries that are coming into the Emergency Department are different,” Post said. “We see fewer cases of people shot on the street or youth violence, but we see an uptick in domestic violence.”
The National Domestic Violence Hotline has received more than 2,300 calls since mid-March in which COVID-19 was cited as a condition of abuse, the organization told Forbes earlier this week.
Leaving home not an option
The COVID-19 pandemic creates a perfect storm for exacerbating domestic violence, foremost by forcing family members into close contact with their abusers.
“When you increase exposure, you increase beatings,” Post said. “Whenever a family spends more time together, the violence will increase.”
Being forced to shelter in place removes many of the coping strategies that victims use to avoid exposure to their abuser, said Barbara Paradiso, director of Center on Domestic Violence at the University of Colorado Denver.
