Covid Linked To A Quarter Of Deaths In Pregnancy During 2020, 2021
An oversight report to Congress, released yesterday, also shows that pregnancy mortality rates were nearly 3 times higher for Black Americans. AP reports that the percentage of preterm and low birthweight babies also rose in 2021 after being steady for years.
Axios:
COVID Played A Role In 1 In 4 Maternal Deaths In 2020 And 2021
COVID-19 contributed to a quarter of maternal deaths in the first two years of the pandemic, with Black pregnant women experiencing a mortality rate nearly three times higher than their white peers, according to an oversight report to Congress released on Wednesday. (Moreno, 10/19)
AP:
COVID-19 Linked To Increase In US Pregnancy-Related Deaths
The percentage of preterm and low birthweight babies also went up last year, after holding steady for years. And more pregnant or postpartum women are reporting symptoms of depression. (Seitz, 10/19)
More on covid-related deaths —
The Washington Post:
White Covid Deaths Increasing In U.S., Surpassing Death Rate Of Blacks
A Post analysis of covid death data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from April 2020 through this summer found the racial disparity vanished at the end of last year, becoming roughly equal. And at times during that same period, the overall age-adjusted death rate for White people slightly surpassed that of Black and Latino people. (Johnson and Keating, 10/19)
CIDRAP:
COVID: 'The Most Severe Global Mortality Shock Since World War II'
Two new studies uncover the profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global life expectancy (LE), one showing substantial and sustained LE losses in the United States and Eastern Europe, and the other finding a link between LE at 60 years of age before the pandemic and excess deaths amid COVID-19 only in countries with older populations. (Van Beusekom, 10/19)
In other news about the spread of covid —
CBS News:
NIH Probes Whether Boston University COVID Experiments Should Have Triggered Review
The National Institutes of Health is now examining whether experiments performed at Boston University should have triggered a federal review, the agency says, after scientists at the school tested strains they created of the COVID-19 virus combining the ancestral and Omicron variants. (Tin, 10/19)
NBC News:
Omicron Subvariants: BA.4.6 Can Evade Immunity And May Lead To Reinfections
An omicron subvariant is once again demonstrating immune-dodging abilities, posing a threat to both vaccinated and previously infected individuals. A report published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that the subvariant, called BA.4.6, could drive reinfections. (Edwards, 10/19)
The Washington Post:
You’re Probably Not Cleaning These 11 Very Germy Spots
While you know your toilet is germy and you’re probably aware that your phone and doorknobs can get gross, too, public health experts and epidemiologists see many more bacterial hot spots in a typical home. So wash your hands and read on for some of the sneakier places where germs and biofilms — the technical term for slimy layers of bacterial colonies — often lurk. (Herrada, 10/18)
