Exploring emergent barriers to hospital-based violence intervention programming during the COVID-19 pandemic.

National rates of gun violence have risen during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are many contributing factors to this increase, including the compounding consequences of social isolation, unstable housing, decreased economic stability, and ineffective and violent policing of communities of color. The effects of these factors are exacerbated by the pandemic's impact on the provision and availability of psychosocial services for individuals in marginalized communities, particularly those who have been violently injured. Hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIPs) have been identified as a crucial intervention strategy in reducing repeat violent injury. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has engendered, significant barriers in HVIPs' attempts to assist program participants in achieving their health-related and social goals. This research offers insight into the complexities of providing social services during the convergence of two public health crises-COVID-19 and gun violence-at the HVIPs associated with the two busiest trauma centers in the state of Maryland. In considering the effects of inadequate financial support and resources, issues with staffing, and the shift to virtual programming due to restrictions on in-person care, we suggest possible changes to violence prevention programming to increase the quality of care provided to participants in a manner reflective of their unique structural positions.

Influence of Covid-19 Restrictions on Urban Violence.

We investigated whether the COVID-19 pandemic affected rates of interpersonal violence (IV). A retrospective study was performed using city-wide crime data and the trauma registry at one high-volume trauma center pre-pandemic [PP] (March-October 2019) and during the pandemic [PA] (March-October 2020). The proportion of trauma admissions attributable to IV remained unchanged from PP to PA, but IV increased as a proportion of overall crime (34% to 41%, p<0.001). Assaults decreased, but there was a proportionate increase in penetrating trauma which was mostly attributable to firearms. Despite a reduction in admissions due to IV in the first 4 months of the pandemic, the rates of violence subsequently exceeded that of the same months in 2019. The cause of the observed increase of IV is multi-factorial. Future studies aimed at identifying the root causes are essential to mitigate violence during this ongoing health crisis.