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COVID-19 and pregnancy study
Dr. Dena Goffman is the chief of obstetrics for NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia and the senior author of a study that tested 215 pregnant women for COVID-19. The study's findings are a wakeup call.
NEW YORK - Dr. Dena Goffman is the chief of obstetrics for New York-Presbyterian/Columbia and the senior author of a study that tested 215 pregnant women for COVID-19.
"The bottom line is that knowing which of our patients are positive for COVID-19 allows us to put the best precautions in place to keep everyone safe," Dr. Goffman said.
All of the women delivered at two New York-Presbyterian/Columbia hospitals between March 22 and April 4.
"This information is vitally important for us to be able to take care of the women, to be able to protect them and their families, as well as their newborns," Dr. Goffman said. "It's also important for us to use the appropriate personal protective equipment or PPE."
The study found that more than 13% of expectant mothers tested positive for the virus but nearly 90% of them showed no symptoms.
"For an asymptomatic woman, there is a risk that the mom could transmit to the baby if we did not know her status," Dr. Goffman said. "So swabbing a mom and knowing that she's carrying the coronavirus actually allows us to put precautions in place to protect the baby to avoid infection in the newborn, which could be very serious."
Dr. Goffman said this is a wakeup call about how many of us may be walking around as asymptomatic carriers. A lot of the guidance for positive-testing moms after delivery should apply to all of us.
"We recommend hand hygiene, mom wearing masks, we recommend distancing between moms and babies," Dr. Goffman said.
Those two hospitals—New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital and Columbia University Irving Medical Center—are now testing all expectant moms for COVID-19.
As for what this means for newborn babies, Dr. Goffman said her team is working on a new study and they can't publish the results just yet. However, she can say that the overall outcome for the babies has been promising.