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A drop in child abuse would usually be welcome news –– but with schools closed and kids at home, experts believe that the recent decline in calls to child abuse and neglect hotlines might really mean more cases are going unnoticed. 

Figures provided to CNN from states across the country show considerable drops in child abuse reports as social distancing measures have kept people home and kids out of sight. 

In Massachusetts alone, reports of alleged child abuse dropped almost 55% from 2,124 in the first week of March to just 972 by the last full week in April, according to data provided by the state. 

Compared to last year, Connecticut, California, Michigan, Kentucky, New Hampshire and Louisiana have all seen double-digit percentage drops as they’ve implemented their own stay-home orders. 

Teachers, coaches and other adults who interact with children and are legally required to report signs of abuse can’t always see red flags over Zoom or other remote connections if they’re able to get in touch with at-risk kids at all. 

And kids who are at-risk are less able to signal distress if their abusers are in the background of calls. 

Children’s advocates say they’re also having a harder time finding ways to intervene before abuse starts in at-risk families. Paula Wolfteich, intervention and clinical director of the National Children’s Advocacy Center, told CNN that mitigation measures have hampered their contact with at-risk families and handicapped the organization’s ability to help.

“The kids that we normally can see and support and –– and families that we can support, our hands are tied and we’re unable to do that as well as we usually do,” she said.

Wolfteich said because families are “sort of on lockdown and isolated,” her organization has seen a stream of reports including “substance abuse involvement, there’s domestic violence in the home and then, you know, physical abuse is going on.”

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