“Trends in US Emergency Department Visits Related to Suspected or Confirmed Child Abuse and Neglect Among Children and Adolescents Aged <18 Years Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic—United States, January 2019–September 2020”, 2020-12-11 (; backlinks; similar):
…ED visits related to suspected or confirmed child abuse and neglect decreased beginning the week of March 15, 2020, coinciding with the declaration of a national emergency related to COVID-19 and implementation of community mitigation measures (5). The 53% decrease in ED visits related to child abuse and neglect among children aged <18 years in early 2020 compared with the number of visits during early 2019 mirrors trends reported for all ED visits; during weeks 13–16 of 2020, the volume of US ED visits declined by 72% among children aged ≤10 years and 71% among children and adolescents aged 11–14 years compared with ED visits during 2019 (9).
Although the total number of ED visits related to child abuse and neglect decreased, the proportion of these visits per 100,000 ED visits increased, suggesting that health care-seeking patterns shifted during the pandemic, with ED visits for other causes declining more than ED visits for child abuse and neglect declined. Despite the ongoing pandemic, caregivers were more likely to take children to EDs for evaluation of complaints related to child abuse and neglect relative to other chief complaints. This pattern might reflect decreased health care-seeking for other medical complaints or a need to seek medical care because of persistence or worsening of child abuse and neglect. The decreased number of ED visits related to child abuse and neglect coincides with decreases in reports of child abuse and neglect to child protective services (4).
The consistent number of visits related to child abuse and neglect requiring hospitalization 2019–2020, despite decreased number of ED visits related to child abuse and neglect, suggests that injury severity did not decrease during the pandemic.