COVID-19, Home Confinement, and the Fallacy of "Safest at Home"

ABSTRACT

In the United States, one in four women and one in seven men experience severe physical IPV at some point in their lives.2 Transgender individuals report even higher levels, with some studies quoting lifetime prevalence of IPV of up to 50%.3 Restricted economic resources, unemployment, and high stress levels all correlate with an increase in both the incidence and the severity of IPV. According to the Director for Shelter Services at the Domestic Violence and Child Advocacy Shelter of Cleveland, Ohio, for example, 40% ofcalls in February 2020 were classified as acute crises. Many public health experts and epidemiologists believe that several rounds ofshelter-in-place orders may be necessary until a vaccine can be reliably deployed or viral spread has subsided completely.