Are pregnant women at risk for coronavirus?
Pregnant women have always been warned about the potential risks of contracting the influenza virus, now many are wondering how dangerous the novel coronavirus may be for the mothers-to-be.
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A 27-year-old Ohio woman who is fighting for her life after testing positive for COVID-19 is a new mom — but she doesn’t know it yet.
Megan Sites, 27, a nurse at a local hospital, first noticed symptoms of the novel coronavirus — which in her experience began with a fever, aches and pains, and “what felt like a sinus infection or cold,” local news station WDTN reported — in late March. But within 24 hours, her symptoms progressed. She has now been in the hospital for more than two weeks.
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Last week, Sites gave birth at 29 weeks. She underwent an emergency C-section in a bid to protect both mother and child.
“Her lungs were pretty much failing and at the same time they had to get the baby out in order to save her and the baby,” her sister-in-law, Kacie Jefferies, told WHIO-TV.
The baby, a boy, has tested negative for COVID-19. He is currently in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the hospital where the pair are being treated. He has not yet been given a name.
The new mom is also a nurse. (iStock)
“Never in a million years would we have thought our 27-year-old sister would be infected with this virus and almost lose her life. People have got to take this seriously,” Jefferies told WDTN, adding to WHIO-TV that Sites “is fighting the biggest fight and we have to be strong for her."
“She was a nurse, she is essential, she had to go to work. So we need to stay home for the nurses and doctors and the people who are essential,” she added.
The news comes after a woman in Washington also infected with COVID-19 unknowingly gave birth while she was in a medically induced coma. Angela Primachenko, 27, of Vancouver, was 33 weeks pregnant when she tested positive for COVID-19.
Eight days later, she was placed on a ventilator and in a medically induced coma — all while doctors at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center induced labor. Thankfully, the new mom is on the mend. She is no longer in an induced coma and has been able to meet her daughter via FaceTime.
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