Delta variant linked to increased risk of stillbirth, CDC study finds - NBC News

Pregnant women who become infected with the delta variant are at increased risk of a stillbirth or dying during childbirth, according to two new studies published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday.

Those rates remained similar even when the pandemic hit, at .64 percent among women who were never diagnosed with Covid.

And once the delta variant took hold in July this year, the rates rose exponentially: 2.7 percent of Covid-positive pregnancies ended in stillbirth.

The study doesn't prove the delta variant causes more fetal demise, but increasingly, obstetricians are documenting notable differences in how much oxygen fetuses can absorb, depending on whether their mothers have been diagnosed with Covid.

As the delta variant took hold in July, the CDC said, just under a third of pregnant women had been vaccinated against Covid.

Among 34,016 Covid-positive pregnant women, 348 pregnancies were lost, the CDC reported

In September, the CDC issued a health alert urging pregnant women to be vaccinated against Covid