COVID-19 Delaying Fertility Treatments For Many: 'I'm Waiting For All This To Be Over'

For infertile couples who have waited years to conceive, another delay is hard to take. COVID-19 stopped fertility treatments and only recently the American Society for Reproductive Medicine is allowing some to continue.

Lana Watson of Williamsburg was starting her second round of in vitro fertilization at the end of February when she was forced to stop.

"Right in the second round is when we got the COVID scare and so now I'm waiting for this all to be over or things can start opening up so we can continue," she said.

Watson explains she was going through a series of rounds of medications and injections that sometimes required her to go to the hospital two to three times a week. That all stopped with the stay-at-home order.

"The worst case scenario would not be able to finish my round of IVF and so I waited patiently by the phone, calling the doctor's office, 'are we going to continue, is everything good?' " she said.

Because timing is everything, UC Health Center for Reproductive Health's Dr. Julie Rios said, "If someone is ready to start their cycle and they (can't) start this cycle they have to wait a whole other month and that can definitely weigh on patients."

Rios is taking guidance from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine which is out with its most recent update. But she still has concerns for all pregnant women in the age of the coronavirus.

"The long-term concerns of COVID-19 is that we just don't have a lot of information in early pregnancy, Rios said, adding that if a treatment is found for the coronavirus, it most likely will have not been tested in pregnant women.

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