How the Coronavirus Pandemic Fed Baltimore’s Violent Crime Problem As the wrath of the coronavirus persisted, so did the city’s vast collection of violent crimes, which couldn’t be curtailed by stay-at-home orders or contained by other restrictions. The coronavirus crept into Baltimore in the middle of March, amid the city’s usual variety of carjackings, commercial break-ins, and wild not-so-west chaos. At first, it introduced itself as a temporary problem. The danger it posed seemed straightforward: contact with the virus could lead to death. Baltimore reacted to it by shutting the d...