The baby girl born prematurely while her mother was on a ventilator being treated for coronavirus has tragically died.
Reports say the mom, who has not been named, was admitted to hospital with coronavirus on April 1.
She went into labor early as doctors tried to save her life, delivering a child that sadly only lived one day.
Louisiana officials have confirmed the baby’s death, which makes her the youngest COVID-19 victim in the state.
East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner Beau Clark told the press: “The baby, because of the extreme prematurity, did not survive.”
Clark also said that coronavirus was the reason for the mother – who is still alive – giving birth prematurely, adding that had the baby not been delivered early things may well have been different.
Mr Clark continued: “The child as of now has not tested positive for Covid-19, however, the mother was, and in speaking with the state epidemiologist, we all agree, myself included and the doctors involved in the care, that this would be a Covid-19-related death because of the positive nature of the mother in this scenario.
“Had she not been Covid-19 positive, had not required ventilator support, had not had the shortness of breath and hypoxia that’s associated with the virus, likely she would not have gone into pre-term labor and there would have been a different outcome.
“You hope that this would never happen here in our state, but it has and we’re certainly left dealing with that issue.”
So far more than 15,000 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus in Louisana alone. As per CNN, a COVID-19 model for the U.S. released yesterday predicted that the virus will kill 81,766 people in the country over the next four months. That estimate is down from what the model predicted on Thursday – by 12,000 deaths – but still alarmingly high.
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