Hawaii first confirmed maternal death from COVID-19

Hawaii had its first confirmed maternal death from COVID-19, according to the chair of a committee that follows them for the state.

Dr. Stacy Tsai, chair of the Hawaii State Maternal Mortality Review Committee, has confirmed the first maternal death in the state from COVID-19. Maternal death usually means that the mother died during pregnancy or after childbirth.

Tsai was unable to share specific details of the case due to medical confidentiality, but confirmed it was recent and the patient was suffering from a very serious illness due to COVID. Her baby, however, survived.

Any maternal death is devastating, she said, with impacts for the whole family and the community.

“Everyone knows this means more than just death, including children who now will not have mothers,” she said. “A lot of times. mothers are the primary caretakers of children in the household or the elderly, so it is devastating for the whole family when the mother dies.

Due to the highly contagious delta variant, Tsai said she is seeing more pregnant women with COVID-19 in hospital.

“I’ve worked on the front line, taking care of COVID patients who have been pregnant from the start,” she said, “and it’s much worse compared to the original strain. With the delta variant, our pregnant moms get much sicker when they get the infection. “

Pregnant and recently pregnant women are at a higher risk of developing serious illness from COVID-19 than women who are not, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In addition, pregnant women with COVID are at greater risk of preterm labor.

“Pregnant women have higher rates of ICU admissions, higher rates of ventilator use, and higher death rates, so being pregnant increases your risk of serious illness,” Tsai said.

However, fewer pregnant women are getting vaccinated, with only about 25% of people aged 18 to 49 nationwide having received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine as of September 4, according to CDC data.

The Hawaii Department of Health does not have a breakdown of the number of fully immunized residents who are pregnant.

Hawaii Pacific Health, which operates the Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children, has confirmed an increase in the number of unvaccinated pregnant women with COVID hospitalized and having to give birth prematurely.

Tsai, a high-risk maternal doctor, recommends that her patients get the COVID-19 vaccine to prevent serious illness.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists also recommends that all pregnant women or those planning to become pregnant get vaccinated against COVID-19, saying a growing amount of data confirms they are safe during pregnancy and that ‘There is no evidence that vaccines cause infertility.

Answers to frequently asked questions by ACOG are available at this link.

The 22-member committee reviews maternal death cases in the state.