Imagine if you are a pregnant mother who tested positive for COVID-19. Will your baby also be infected? What are the chances?
Actually, mothers who are infected with COVID-19 rarely pass on the infection to their newborn babies. This may sound unlikely but a study by physician-researchers at several hospitals found this to be true.
Newborn Babies
The researchers studied 255 babies born at 11 hospitals that represent approximately 50 percent of all births in the state of Massachusetts. The babies were born between March 1 to July 31, 2020. The mothers of these babies recently tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.
Low Risk of Transmission
The researchers tested 88.2 percent of the newborn babies for COVID-19. Only 2.2 percent had positive results.
However, the bad news was that the infected mothers developed more illnesses which lead to increased premature births. These premature babies needed to stay in the hospital longer.
The study was published in the April 2021 edition of the journal Pediatrics.
So in short, mothers infected with COVID-19 rarely pass on the infection, but the illness can lead to higher risk of premature birth.
Being pregnant is stressful enough. Finding out you are positive for COVID-19 is even more stressful. However, there is low risk that you will pass on the infection. Instead, more attention should be paid to the mother. The maternal illness can increase the chance of a premature birth.
