The pandemic within the pandemic: An explosion of domestic violence
One woman’s story of escape comes amid a spike in abuse-related murders
A Memphis victim of domestic violence stands in the glow of a Christmas tree in a Mid-South shelter. She escaped her abuser but is isolated from family over the holidays. Severe cases of domestic violence are on the rise during the pandemic. (Karen Pulfer Focht/Special to Daily Memphian)
Domestic violence has exploded this year locally and across the country since the novel coronavirus struck – a pandemic within a pandemic that’s filled police blotters with a spike in accounts of extreme brutality.
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Natasha Senjanovic
Natasha Senjanovic is a contributor to the Institute for Public Service Reporting at the University of Memphis, for which she produced this story. A Nashville-based journalist and public radio producer, she’s won numerous awards as a news anchor and for reporting on vulnerable populations, including survivors of domestic and sexual violence, at-risk youth and undocumented immigrants. She served as afternoon host for Middle Tennessee NPR station WPLN for three years.
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