Domestic Violence and COVID-19: the Silent Crisis

In a year fraught with crisis after crisis, there is still another social problem which demands more awareness — and you probably haven’t thought of it.

I. COVID-19 and the News Cycle

2020 has been a total mess of a year. It can be hard to keep up with it as the news cycle moves at warp speed.

Nevertheless, COVID-19 has dominated much of that cycle: death rates; infection rates; hopefully, a vaccine; lockdowns; “flattening the curve”; the unemployment crisis. You’ve also likely heard of the more tertiary crises fueled by the Pandemic, like the eviction crisis and the potential explosion of homelessness. Indeed, the virus has thrown a wrench into everything.

There is yet another social problem thrust into starker relief because of the lockdowns, and you probably haven’t thought much about it — that’s perfectly understandable, as there has been little national coverage of it and very sporadic local coverage across the country.

That problem is domestic violence.

II. Domestic Violence Pre-Lockdown

According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the CDC, an average of twenty people per minute (most are women aged eighteen to twenty-four) are abused by a…