The Domestic Violence Pandemic of Covid-19-- Stay Home, Stay Safe?

Safe at Home?

State and local leaders have encouraged all of us to stay safe and stay at home during this difficult year of the pandemic. Government officials, healthcare and hospital personnel and administrators have been especially concerned that we do all that we can to stay safe by keeping ourselves at home and away from others so that we can keep them safe, too.

This opening paragraph from Intermountain Healthcare expressed it this way:

Just stay home

Keep up with COVID-19 Learn more about how Intermountain Healthcare is actively monitoring and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

At this critical time, it is essential that everyone JUST STAY HOME. Stay-at-home directives are issued to protect you, your family, and the public at large. Do your part by staying home. Now is not the time for a play date for kids, not the time for a dinner for adults, and not the time for a personal visit to the elderly. Spring break plans should be cancelled, birthday parties should be postponed, extended family dinners should be suspended. If the NBA can cancel their basketball games, you can cancel your in-person social calendar. Please, stay home (https://intermountainhealthcare.org/blogs/topics/live-well/2020/03/stay-home-stay-safe-directive/ ).

Unsafe at Home

Safe or Unsafe at Home?

For those affected by daily verbal threats, physical and emotional harm, and the fear and despair of domestic violence, staying at home is the most unsafe and devastating directive that they can be given. It is very confusing to be under directives given by order of official command by those trusted safety entities that by all good measure know what is best and then fear for the lives of yourself and your children while obeying and trusting those orders.

“This pandemic had all of the elements that advocates fear, all coming at one time,” said Erin Jemison, a co-author of the report and the former director of public policy at the YWCA Utah. “This report serves to show, yep, there was more outreach. People were asking for help more. And that’s probably just so little of what was actually happening that we don’t even know yet (https://www.deseret.com/utah/2021/3/15/22327784/report-confirms-national-domestic-violence-uptick-as-utah-nonprofits-shift-to-meet-need-covid-19 ).

The Pandemic Inside a Pandemic

The pandemic has left many who once found safety and sanctuary at work or at school with nowhere to go. Oftentimes as part of the stay at home orders, the abusive spouse or partner is also relegated to the confines of the household. Tensions and tempers are unrestrained. According to statistics, 1 in 4 women and one in 10 men experience domestic and intimate partner violence, and violence can take various forms: it can be physical, emotional, sexual, or psychological. People of all races, cultures, genders, sexual orientations, socioeconomic classes, and religions can experience this violence. The pandemic has exacerbated financial concerns by causing increased job loss and unemployment. Oftentimes those who once were able to seek shelter now have nowhere to go. The public health restrictions put in place to combat the spread of the virus have also reduced access to alternative sources of housing: shelters and hotels have reduced their capacity or shut down, and travel restrictions have limited people’s access to safe havens. Shelters have made valiant efforts to ease crowding and to help residents move into hotels, extended-stay apartments, or the homes of family members and friends.

Shelters are stressed and Resources are limited

Burnout makes you feel powerless

Most people who experience domestic violence don’t seek help. Medical professionals and sheltering staff have an opportunity to identify these patients in health care settings and to provide counseling and connect people with the services they are in need of. Medical offices can be safe places for patients to share their trauma and abuse. Physical examination findings can expose behavior during examinations. Warnings signs of possible violence can be discussed. Evaluations in clinics or hospital settings permit immediate intervention. Help can come in assistance from social workers, safety planning, and a review of services available to victims and their dependents. Even this opportunity has often been absent during the pandemic. With abusers under the same roof, often in the same room, they might be listening in on conversations, leaving patients unable to disclose escalating abuse at home.

Burnout is high on several angles of this help and need spectrum. We need to realize that domestic violence thrives even as people are isolated. Virus precautions have limited shelter capacity across the states and throughout the country. Various networks of sheltering services have gotten creative as they have found ways to keep families safe with virtual counseling sessions and groups. Federal stimulus funds have helped cover the costs of hotel rooms where available for those shelters that can’t accommodate those who test positive for the virus, but all have their limitations. The need for these adjustments and provisions are wearing on the shelter employees and their budgets.

“We have not seen anything slow down,” said Kristen Floyd, executive director at Utah's Davis County Safe Harbor Crisis Center. The Center saw a 50% increase in clients and children's needs. They helped roughly 2,400 people in 2020.

Though staying at home may have helped to keep many safe from contracting the coronavirus, the pandemic of domestic violence raged for some who had no other choice but to stay at home with a perpetrator. There have been many hard choices in this last year of the pandemic and that is certainly one of them.

We can all help. If you see a need, direct victims of abuse to local sheltering services. The National Domestic Violence website is https://www.thehotline.org/ The hotline number is 800-799-7233 .