Pregnant women who are positive with Covid-19 when they give birth rarely transmit the virus to their newborns, according to a spate of new research.
The reason: Covid isn’t often found in a patient’s bloodstream. As researchers have raced to understand the effects of Covid on pregnancy and infants, these findings offer good news to expecting parents. “Analyses show that infection among infants born to women with Covid-19 was uncommon," said Kate Woodworth, a medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease and Prevention.
Even so, a pregnant woman with Covid risks serious illness which can also have negative health consequences for her newborn child even if the baby is born Covid-free.
Recent studies have linked Covid-19 infection during pregnancy to both preterm labor and stillbirth. The CDC released a study in September that found the rate of transmission from mother to baby was under 4%.