Gun violence and community trauma in the Covid-19 pandemic

Philadelphia has been in a gun violence crisis for a long time, but the number of shootings in the city since the beginning of the pandemic is staggeringly high.

Air Date: July 29, 2021 10:00 am

Philadelphia 3rd District Councilmember Jamie Gauthier led a press conference of officials and community leaders demanding Mayor Jim Kenney declare a gun violence emergency on July 22, 2021. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)

Philadelphia’s gun violence rate has remained at an alarming level for decades, but a recent study showed incidents nearly doubling since the city first implemented Covid-19 restrictions in March 2020. JESSICA BEARD, the Temple University Hospital surgeon and researcher who led the study, joins us to discuss her findings, plus her thoughts on the connection between the pandemic, poverty and violence. Councilmember JAMIE GAUTHIER also joins the hour to talk about gun violence in her district and the ongoing crisis she’s been so vocal about. Alongside them, we hear from ARTURO ZINNY, Program Director of Healing Hurt People at the Center for Non-Violence and Social Justice at Drexel University, about the cycle of trauma victims face every day.

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