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COVID-19 Poses Additional Risk to Black Pregnant Women

A photo of a pregnant woman sitting.
STORY BLOCKS
Little is known about the impact of COVID-19 on pregnancy and infants.

Greater Akron’s Full Term First Birthday is encouraging black pregnant women to be especially vigilant to avoid contracting COVID-19.

Very little is known about the impact of the virus on pregnancy or infants.

Akron’s Health Equity Ambassador Tamiyka Rose said she knows of one woman who tested positive before she even knew she was pregnant. A couple of months later, she is still having problems.

“She's still going to the emergency room, and she's tested negative. But she's still having underlying symptoms of COVID,'" Rose said, such as breathing problems.

The black infant mortality rate in Summit County is double the white rate.

Tomorrow we continue our focus on infant mortality, talking with a pregnant mother in Cleveland who recovered from the virus but is experiencing lasting challenges finding child care and paying her bills.

Kelly Murphy Woodward, a regional Emmy Award-winning producer, loves to tell a good story and has been privileged to do that for more than 20 years, working in public television and radio, commercial news and running her own production business. She is passionate about producing quality programming for Northeast Ohio.