At six months pregnant, Nisaa Borer Nelson was diagnosed with Covid-19. Instead of oxygen, Borer Nelson says nurses at a Minneapolis hospital gave her an IV saline drip. She had no one advocating for her, she recalls. Her husband wasn’t allowed in her room because of Covid restrictions. She was in distress and worried. The couple already had picked out a name for their fifth child she feared wouldn’t survive. “I remember being in the hospital just praying … Lord, if this is your will I accept it, but if it’s not give me the strength to fight,” she said. “I thought I was going to die.”
Borer Nelson fought, and her and her daughter Joy, now two months old, have since recovered. Yet, the frustration over nurses dismissing her health concerns, echoes a reality that mothers, advocates and lawmakers say has helped fuel a maternal health crisis in the United States that disproportionately impacts Black women. The issue, advocates fear, could be exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which took a turn in recent weeks when the Delta variant and communities with low vaccination rates led to a surge in cases. The pandemic already has laid bare existing health disparities. Yet, it’s too soon to tell what long-term impact the pandemic will have on the maternal health crisis, experts say. Pregnant women remain at high risk for severe complications and hospitalization if they contract Covid-19, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has strengthened its recommendation for them to get vaccinated.
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