As COVID-19 swept across California in early 2020, pediatric infectious diseases physician Karin Nielsen grew alarmed by the crisis erupting in maternity wards. Pregnant women were placed on life support, undergoing emergency C-sections as the virus triggered severe complications. Some died.
Nielsen had just finished a research project on how the emerging infectious disease Zika was causing severe birth defects. Concerned the new coronavirus might have a similar impact, she began recruiting expectant mothers who tested positive for a new study.
Soon after the study¡¯s participants began giving birth, Nielsen¡¯s colleagues at UCLA¡¯s Mattel Children¡¯s Hospital noticed an unusual number of their newborns requiring intensive care. Nielsen recalls another doctor stopping her to ask, ¡°What¡¯s wrong with the babies in your study?¡±
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