Ad“For couples who had a tendency to use their business to avoid problems, the pandemic has made things infinitely worse,” he said. In Oregon, divorces in the pandemic months of March through December were down about 24% from those months in 2019; marriages were down 16%. Another reason, according to marriage counselors, is that many couples backed off from a possibly imminent divorce for fear it would only worsen pandemic-fueled financial insecurity. AdLivesay said the stresses of the pandemic exacerbated existing strains in some marriages, pushing couples toward divorce. Harris described one troubled couple who entered marriage counseling a year ago, just before the pandemic took hold.