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Domestic Violence Calls Mount as Restrictions Linger: ‘No One Can Leave’The coronavirus has created new tensions. Staying at home has worsened abusive situations. Shelters worry about the spread of the virus.
Enida Flowers, a victim information and referral advocate, took a call at the Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline in Chicago.Credit...David Kasnic for The New York TimesPublished May 15, 2020Updated Aug. 7, 2020
CHICAGO — The woman dialed the hotline from her car. Her partner was laid off from his job after the coronavirus outbreak hit the United States, she told the counselor, who listened from a basement call center in Chicago. He had become more tense and violent than ever. Please help.
Americans have been cooped up at home for months to slow the spread of the coronavirus, many of them living in small spaces, reeling from sudden job losses and financial worries. Children are home from school in every state in the country.
That confinement has led to another spiraling crisis: Doctors and advocates for victims are seeing signs of an increase in violence at home. They are hearing accounts of people lashing out, particularly at women and children.
“No one can leave,” Kim Foxx, the chief prosecutor in Chicago, said in an interview. “You’re literally mandating that people who probably should not be together in the same space stay.”
The problems have only deepened since stay-at-home orders were first imposed.
In Chicago, the number of people seeking help has increased significantly in recent weeks. During the first week of March, 383 people called a domestic violence hotline in the city. By the end of April, the weekly number had soared to 549.
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