Pregnant people sicker, ending up in ICUs during 3rd wave, doctors say
Apr 19, 2021
Doctors who work with pregnant people are advocating for them to be put at a higher priority for receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, as more become sick with the virus during the third wave.
“This week, we’ve had 11 admissions to hospital with the majority of those patients ending up in the intensive care unit,” said Dr. Wendy Whittle, head of labour and delivery at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.
She said pregnant people with COVID-19 account for six out of the 20 ICU beds at Mount Sinai, a number “far” greater than what doctors saw in the first wave of the pandemic.
Pregnancy is a particularly dangerous time for people, and the risk increases with COVID-19 as those who are pregnant are already susceptible to respiratory infections due to changes in their bodies during pregnancy, said Whittle, who also leads the COVID-19 pregnancy program at Mount Sinai.