Secretary to the governor, Melissa DeRosa, announced on Friday the New York State Police reported a 15-20 percent increase in domestic violence cases.

Lauren Trunko, the Women and Family Services Director for YWCA, says with growing concerns over the coronavirus this can place an additional strain on already tense home situations.

"Domestic violence services are essential services and we haven’t gone anywhere," Trunko explained. "We haven’t had any disruption in our service and if they need anybody, all they need to do is pick up the phone or go online and someone can be reached pretty quickly."

The statewide Domestic Violence Hotline Number is: 1-800-942-6906 and the number for YWCA is: 518-374-3386. Anyone can call these numbers 24 hours a day and there is staff, available even during this time, to come help relocate a person out of a dangerous situation.

Lawmakers also included a bill in the New York State Budget that will allow police officers responding to domestic violence calls, to confiscate any guns that are in plain sight for 48 hours.

Senator Brad Hoylman says data shows that when an abuser has access to a gun, domestic violence victims are five times more likely to be killed.

"If we can intercede and remove guns before is injured or killed in a domestic violence dispute just for 48 hours we should do that," Senator Brad Hoylman insisted. "You can look at this as a cooling-off period for all parties."

This bill was passed in the finalized budget.