Officials in Los Angeles are warning about increasing numbers of pregnant women becoming infected with the coronavirus and being hospitalized. According to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, there has been a sharp rise in COVID cases among pregnant women, some of whom have gone into intensive care.
Dr. Marlon Mills, the director of maternal fetal medicine at the Hoag Health Network in Orange County, says pregnant women are at increased risk of having respiratory illness so severe they need to be sedated and require the insertion of a breathing tube into the mouth and into their windpipe. They also have a far higher risk of premature birth, serious complications such as preeclampsia, which can be caused from a COVID-induced inflammation of the placenta, and generally have a higher risk of dying of COVID compared with women who are not pregnant.
Large numbers of pregnant women are not vaccinated, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention strongly recommends they get vaccinated immediately.
For advice on family law issues and fertility law issues, contact Shirley Levitan.