There are far fewer sexual assault evidence examinations during the coronavirus outbreak, experts say, thanks to a strained health system and fears of infection.
sexual assaultKim Hurst oversees in the Detroit area were as busy as ever ― conducting as many as 90 rape kit examinations a month. But then there was a sudden, and troublesome, drop-off in patients.
Rape kits, often compiled in hospital emergency rooms, are an integral part of sexual assault victims’ ability to press charges against their abuser. Any type of physician or nurse can conduct a rape kit exam, but the majority of them are performed by forensic nurses. The exams usually take three to four hours and can often only be done up to 72 hours after the assault. Once a kit is compiled, it’s sent to police to be tested for DNA, which can then be used to prosecute the perpetrator.
This has made an already difficult process that much harder. Sexual assault survivors face a multitude of hurdles on a normal day: disclosing their assault, deciding whether to seek medical care or report to law enforcement, facing people who don’t believe their story, and dealing with the short- and long-term effects of trauma. And that’s without a global crisis raging in the background. Now, advocates worry the pandemic is only further discouraging survivors from coming forward.
The coronavirus isn’t just making it harder for victims to seek help; it’s also made it more difficult for health care programs that serve survivors to do their jobs. Hurst said that the SAFE centers have reported a few COVID-19-positive patients who have come in to get a rape kit done. At least one, Hurst suspects, contracted the virus from their attacker.
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