Two New York hospitals have tested all pregnant women who came there to give birth for Covid-19.
According to the results of this study , more than 15% were carriers of the coronavirus and almost all were asymptomatic.
No apparent risk of contagion to babies
About 1.3% of the population of New York City has already tested positive for COVID-19, but these figures of infections to pregnant women are significant because it was mandatory to test all those who came to give birth, as well that offer a clearer picture at a statistical level .
Between March 22 and April 4, 2020, a total of 215 pregnant women delivered babies at New York’s Presbyterian Allen Hospital and Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
Of 215 women tested, only four had symptoms of COVID-19 when they were screened on admission to the hospital. Of the other women, 210 underwent nasal swab tests, and 29 of them, or 13.7 percent of the total , tested positive for the coronavirus despite showing no symptoms.
Although this prevalence is of limited generalizability to geographic regions with lower rates of infection, it underscores the risk of Covid-19 among asymptomatic obstetric patients . Furthermore, the true prevalence of infection may not be reported due to false negative test results for SARS-CoV-2.
The Lancet has recently published a study that studies whether there is a risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (virus that causes Covid-19) to the baby during pregnancy. The study analyzes the case of nine pregnant women who were admitted to the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, China from January 20 to 31, 2020. Possible vertical intrauterine transmission was evaluated by testing for the presence of SARS- CoV-2 in amniotic fluid, umbilical cord blood, and neonatal throat swab samples. All samples were negative for the virus .