How COVID-19 Affects Pregnancy

Evidence thus far shows that pregnant people infected with SARS-CoV-2 are at higher risk for severe disease and death, as well as complications in their pregnancies.

Written byAmanda Heidt

| 10 min read

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Early in the pandemic, maternal-fetal health specialists had to confront the fact that there were no easy answers they could give their patients regarding how COVID-19 might affect their pregnancies. Dani Dumitriu, a physician-scientist affiliated with Columbia University in New York, recalls that the university’s Irving Medical Center was the first hospital in the country to admit a pregnant woman with COVID-19, and as a result, “we at Columbia felt a great responsibility, being that we were the first epicenter, to generate knowledge very rapidly.”

Early questions centered around very basic aspects of the disease, including whether pregnancy increases the risk of getting sicker or dying from the virus and if it was possible to transmit the virus to a fetus in utero or to an infant through breastfeeding. When parents-to-be first began showing up to the hospital, some of them critically ill, “there was really only a little bit ...

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Meet the Author

Amanda Heidt
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Amanda first began dabbling in scicom as a master’s student studying marine science at Moss Landing Marine Labs, where she edited the student blog and interned at a local NPR station. She enjoyed that process of demystifying science so much that after receiving her degree in 2019, she went straight into a second master’s program in science communication at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Formerly an intern at The Scientist, Amanda joined the team as a staff reporter and editor in 2021 and oversaw the publication’s internship program, assigned and edited the Foundations, Scientist to Watch, and Short Lit columns, and contributed original reporting across the publication. Amanda’s stories often focus on issues of equity and representation in academia, and she brings this same commitment to DEI to the Science Writers Association of the Rocky Mountains and to the board of the National Association of Science Writers, which she has served on since 2022. She is currently based in the outdoor playground that is Moab, Utah. Read more of her work at www.amandaheidt.com.
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