Sheltered-In-Place: Domestic Violence during COVID-19

Abstract

March 2020 marked the closure of thousands of workplaces, schools and other services to comply with government-issued lockdowns to prevent the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) across the Canadian population. While the intent of the stay-at-home orders was to provide safety for the surrounding communities from the pandemic, many victims of domestic abuse soon found themselves confined to the root of their trauma for the sake of public health. Dubbed the “pandemic within a pandemic” by the media, 54% of responding victim services have reported an increase in the number of served domestic violence victims between mid-March and early July of 2020 [1,2], and police-reported calls for domestic disturbances have also increased 12%, according to data compiled from 17 police services across Canada [3].