More States Seeing Uptick of Pregnant COVID Patients in ICUs

A report from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in August revealed that there had been a sharp increase in the number of pregnant patients who were being hospitalized with COVID-19. Nearly a month later, physicians from other states have started to voice similar concerns about the growing number of unvaccinated pregnant patients who have been admitted to ICUs with severe infection.

Mississippi state health officials announced on September 9 that eight pregnant women had died from COVID-19 in recent weeks; their babies were all delivered prematurely and survived, said state medical officer Thomas Dobbs, MD, MPH, during a press conference.

“Currently we are investigating eight reports of pregnant women who have died within the past several weeks, all of whom are unvaccinated,” Dobbs added, according to the Sun Herald.

The state has also seen a devastating twofold increase in the rate of fetal deaths during COVID-19. Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 73 fetal deaths in Mississippi.

“We do know that COVID is especially problematic and dangerous in pregnant women, but we also know it can be deadly for the baby in the womb,” Dobbs said. “With COVID, we have seen a doubling … of fetal demise for the death of the baby in the womb after 20 weeks. It’s been a real tragedy.”

In Illinois, cities like Springfield and Peoria are also seeing more ICU admissions for pregnant COVID patients. Michael Leonardi, MD, an ob-gyn who specializes in high-risk pregnancies at OSF HealthCare in Peoria, told MedPage Today that, starting roughly 6 weeks ago, pregnant COVID patients have been admitted to OSF with growing frequency.

“We’ve not had a fully vaccinated patient in the ICU,” Leonardi said. “I’ve had several patients who have been discharged home, still pregnant, and we’ve convinced them to get vaccinated 2 weeks after their acute infection.