BALTIMORE (AP) — Domestic violence incidents have soared in Baltimore during the COVID-19 pandemic, with police reporting a case increase of nearly one-third in the city, according to police department data.

Experts told the Baltimore Sun that isolation, cramped living conditions and financial hardships from the pandemic have made it more difficult for survivors, predominantly women, to seek protection or leave their abusers.

Violent domestic crime in Baltimore has risen 31% year in 2021, increasing from 354 incidents in the first three months of 2020 to 462 in the first three months of this year, police data shows. Reports of domestic aggravated assaults have risen by 35%, from 266 to 359 during the same period.