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What Expectant Mothers Need To Know About COVID-19

Cone Health's newly opened Women's and Children's Center in Greensboro. Image courtesy Cone Health.

Pregnancy has the potential to be stressful even without a global pandemic. Last week, women who are expecting were added to the high-risk category for COVID-19. 

The high-risk designation doesn't necessarily mean that pregnant women are more likely to contract COVID-19, according to Dr. Carolyn Harraway-Smith, Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Cone Health. 

“It just means that if a mother were to screen positive, we would watch her more closely to make sure that her disease process was not worse than the general population,” she says.

Harraway-Smith says that if you're in your first or second trimester, routine prenatal visits are shifting to telehealth.

And if you're closer to your due date, many hospitals are now limiting visitors. At Cone Health that means a woman will be allowed to have one person with them during their hospital stay.

If you have questions or are showing symptoms of COVID-19, contact your primary care provider before going to an emergency room or doctor's office.

For more information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on pregnancy and COVID-19, click here.

And for the most up-to-date information on coronavirus in North Carolina, visit our Live Updates blog here.

Bethany joined the staff of WFDD in the fall of 2012. She received her B.A. and M.A. in English Literature from Wake Forest University and focused on Anglo-Irish writing. Between undergraduate studies and graduate school, Bethany served as the intern to Talk of the Nation at NPR in D.C., participating in live NPR Election Night Coverage, Presidential debate broadcasts, regular Talk of the Nation shows, and helping to plan the inaugural broadcast of ‘Talk of the World.' She enjoys engaging with her interests in books, politics, and art in the interdisciplinary world of public radio. Before becoming Assistant News Director, Bethany was a reporter and Associate Producer for WFDD's Triad Arts and Triad Arts Weekend. Originally from Jacksonville, Florida, Bethany enjoys calling the Piedmont home.

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