Pregnancy During the Pandemic

Worries about the impact of COVID-19 on pregnant mothers and their offspring are widespread. As a comparison, the Spanish Flu pandemic had devastating health impacts on pregnant mothers and in-utero exposure to influenza is known to have negative short- and long-term consequences for children. Using data from New York City in 2020 and Philadelphia in 1918, Schwandt compares COVID-19 mortality rates versus Spanish Flu mortality rates by age and gender. The data show that COVID-19 mortality rates have been much higher for individuals over 60 compared to the Spanish Flu, which had much higher mortality rates for people between the ages of 20-40.