Covid Thoughts
I got this email yesterday from an OBGYN and I got chills reading it. Let me know your thoughts.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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“I get a pit in my stomach.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Lately, it's worse than the usual punch to the gut.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Another seemingly healthy pregnancy suddenly ends in tragedy.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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It’ll be years before there is enough data to say if COVID is responsible for an increase in pregnancy loss. Nevertheless, it's been the chatter amongst OBGYNs for months.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Anecdotally, doctors around the world are noticing increases in losses when COVID cases start to climb. Not just in early miscarriages, which can be common, but in 2nd and 3rd trimester loss, when sudden loss of a pregnancy is rare.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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A British hospital noticed it too. They reported a fourfold increase in 2nd and 3rd trimester losses in 2020 compared to the same time period in 2019.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
But...it was only from 4 to 16. It could be a fluke.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Without further studies we can't know if COVID was the culprit.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Truthfully, we may never know.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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But those of us with this insider view quietly wonder.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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At the same time, I see people questioning whether precautions are necessary.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I hear people asking ‘who we are protecting?’ and ‘is it really *that* bad?’⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Privately, I think about the women who have lost babies in the past few months. The ones who go to bed at night without any explanation for why there isn't a baby beside them.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Could it be COVID?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Could it have been prevented?”⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
We can't exploit the pain these families have suffered. We can't employ scare tactics about questions for which we truly don't have answers.
But what if more people knew there was even a shred of a possibility for a different outcome if COVID numbers were lower?
Would our perspectives change?
We can only hope that we remember there are those we can't see who may still need our protection.