AdventHealth Morning Briefing: COVID-19 and pregnancy – what women need to know

June 18, 2020 — On today’s AdventHealth Morning Briefing, we discussed the current state of COVID-19 in Central Florida, as well as what pregnant women and new moms need to know.

Dr. Rachel Humphrey, medical director of AdventHealth for Women’s maternal-fetal medicine program, spoke about the psychological toll that COVID-19 has taken on new moms and soon-to-be moms – as she sees patients with increased levels of anxiety and depression.

The likelihood of COVID-19 transmission to infants is very low, said Humphrey. Unlike other recent health outbreaks, such as Zika virus and H1N1 flu, pregnant women and new moms are at no greater risk than the rest of the population when it comes to infection with coronavirus.

Highlights from the briefing include:

• Childbirth delivery in a hospital is safe. Expectant moms are encouraged to continue to deliver their babies in a hospital setting versus at home. At AdventHealth, an entire medical team is on hand to ensure moms and babies get the care they need with extra precautions and enhanced safety measures in place to keep them safe.
• AdventHealth for Children ranks best for neonatology in Florida in U.S. News & World Report Best Children’s Hospitals (Click here for story) Did you know up to 9% of babies need the attention of a neonatologist immediately after birth? For the second consecutive year, AdventHealth for Children was ranked as the top neonatology program in Florida and among the top in the nation in the new 2020-21 Best Children’s Hospitals rankings published this week.
• Expectant and new moms are at the same level of risk of COVID-19 as everyone else and should continue to follow social distancing, hand-washing and masking guidelines. Cautious behavior goes a long way toward reducing the risk of COVID-19 infection. While we all are dealing with increased levels of worry these days, moms should take some comfort in that COVID-19 is hard to transmit to infants – less than 1% risk.

We encourage you to refer to the video on the Life at AdventHealth Central Florida page to pull direct quotes from Dr. Brady and Dr. Humphrey. You can also download it here: https://vimeo.com/430315427#t=111s