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Review
. 2020 Nov;44(7):151286.
doi: 10.1016/j.semperi.2020.151286. Epub 2020 Jul 23.

A review of newborn outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic

Margaret H Kyle  1 , Melissa E Glassman  2 , Adrita Khan  2 , Cristina R Fernández  2 , Erin Hanft  3 , Ukachi N Emeruwa  4 , Tessa Scripps  2 , Lauren Walzer  2 , Grace V Liao  3 , Minna Saslaw  2 , David Rubenstein  5 , Daniel S Hirsch  5 , M Kathleen Keown  2 , Ashley Stephens  2 , Isabelle Mollicone  6 , Mary L Bence  6 , Archana Gupta  5 , Sally Sultan  2 , Caroline Sibblies  5 , Susan Whittier  7 , Wanda Abreu  2 , Francis Akita  5 , Anna Penn  5 , Jordan S Orange  8 , Lisa Saiman  9 , Martha G Welch  10 , Cynthia Gyamfi-Bannerman  4 , Melissa S Stockwell  11 , Dani Dumitriu  12
Affiliations
Review

A review of newborn outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic

Margaret H Kyle et al. Semin Perinatol. 2020 Nov.

Abstract

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread worldwide, it is crucial that we determine populations that are at-risk and develop appropriate clinical care policies to protect them. While several respiratory illnesses are known to seriously impact pregnant women and newborns, preliminary data on the novel SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus suggest that these groups are no more at-risk than the general population. Here, we review the available literature on newborns born to infected mothers and show that newborns of mothers with positive/suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection rarely acquire the disease or show adverse clinical outcomes. With this evidence in mind, it appears that strict postnatal care policies, including separating mothers and newborns, discouraging breastfeeding, and performing early bathing, may be more likely to adversely impact newborns than they are to reduce the low risk of maternal transmission of SARS-CoV-2 or the even lower risk of severe COVID-19 disease in otherwise healthy newborns.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors report no proprietary or commercial interest in any product mentioned or concept discussed in this article.

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