Hawaii has had its first confirmed maternal death due to COVID-19, according to the chairman of a committee that monitors them by state.
Dr. Stacy Tsai, chair of the State of Hawaii Maternal Mortality Review Committee, confirmed the first maternal death in the state due to COVID-19. A maternal death usually means that the mother died during pregnancy or after childbirth.
Tsai was unable to share case-specific details due to medical privacy, but confirmed that it was recent and that the patient was suffering from a very serious illness due to COVID. Her baby, however, survived.
Any maternal death is devastating, he said, with impacts for the entire family and community.
“Everyone knows it means more than just death, including children who will now have no mother,” he said. “A lot of times. mothers are primary caregivers of children in the home or the elderly, so it is devastating for the whole family when the mother dies. “
Because of the highly contagious delta variant, Tsai said she saw more expectant mothers with COVID-19 in the hospital.
“I’ve been working on the front line, caring for patients with COVID who are pregnant from the beginning,” she said, “and that’s much worse compared to the original strain. With the delta variant, our pregnant mothers get a lot sicker. when they detect the infection “.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pregnant women and pregnant women are at a higher risk of developing serious COVID-19 disease than women who are not. In addition, pregnant women with COVID have an increased risk of preterm birth.
“Pregnant women have higher rates of admission to the ICU, higher rates of having to go to a ventilator, and higher mortality rates, so being pregnant increases the risk of serious illness,” she said. Tsai.
However, fewer pregnant women are vaccinated, with only 25% of 18- to 49-year-olds nationwide receiving at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine as of Sept. 4, according to data. of the CDC.
The Hawaii Department of Health does not present a breakdown of the number of fully vaccinated pregnant residents.
Hawaii Pacific Health, which runs Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children, confirmed an increase in pregnant women with unvaccinated COVID hospitalized and who must give birth prematurely.
Tsai, a high-risk maternal physician, recommends that his patients be vaccinated against COVID-19 to prevent serious illness.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists also recommends that all pregnant women or women who plan to become pregnant be vaccinated against COVID-19, saying an increasing amount of data confirms that they are safe during pregnancy and that there is no evidence that vaccines cause infertility.
Answers to ACOG FAQs are available at this link.
The 22-member committee examines cases of maternal death in the state.