The coronavirus is fatally killing pregnant women and fetuses in Mississippi. Officials announced Wednesday that the death toll in the state has doubled since pandemic started last year.
Dr. Thomas Dobbs, a Mississippi state health worker, said Wednesday at a live broadcast press conference that while “COVID is especially dangerous and problematic for pregnant women,” it can also be “deadly for pregnant women.” baby in the womb. ”
“With COVID, we have seen the fetal death rate or infant death in the womb double after 20 weeks,” Dobbs said. “It’s been a real tragedy.”
Dobbs said there have been 72 fetal deaths in the state caused by COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, not including miscarriages that could have occurred before the 20-week gestation mark, which is “the double the fund rate than expected. ”
Over the last year, there have also been seven pediatric deaths in the state due to COVID-19, including recently a baby under one year old.
“It’s a good number of tragedies that we could avoid right now,” Dobbs said.
Officials also said there are “increasing deaths among pregnant women.” Since March 2020, more than 1,500 pregnant women in the state have been diagnosed with COVID-19, as well as more than 76,900 children under the age of 17.
“We are still in the middle of nowhere Delta increase. Unfortunately, we have seen a significant number of pregnant women not survive COVID in recent weeks, “Dobbs said.” We are currently investigating eight reports of pregnant women who have died in recent weeks, all unvaccinated. “
Some of the women who died were able to give birth to their babies by cesarean section, officials said.
Most cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the state, Dobbs said, are of those that do without vaccination. Only 40% of the total population of Mississippi has been completely vaccinated, according to state data, one of the lowest rates in the country.
In August, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged pregnant women to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The agency said research shows that unvaccinated pregnant women have a “higher risk of serious COVID-19-related illnesses and pregnancy complications” and that vaccinated people do not have a higher risk of miscarriage. .
CDC data show that less than a quarter of all U.S. pregnant women are vaccinated at least partially by early September.
“CDC encourages all people who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant and those who are breastfeeding to be vaccinated to protect themselves from COVID-19,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement. communicated on August 11th. “Vaccines are safe and effective., And it has never been more urgent to increase vaccinations, as we face the highly transmissible variant of Delta and see severe COVID-19 outcomes in unvaccinated pregnant women.”