Effects of COVID-19 on Health Care Workers

Abstract

COVID-19 continues to spread across the United States with a continued increase in reported infections and deaths. How this virus effects pregnancy, particularly mothers and their infants around and after delivery, is of particular concern for health care workers. Moreover, concerns for compassion fatigue in the health care worker, as they attempt to provide comprehensive care to this population, is a documented concern that could have long-term effects on workers' ability to provide care. This article will describe the current concerns for the transmission of COVID-19 from the mother to the infant and how that has affected recommendations from several national and international organizations around maternal/infant testing, isolation, breastfeeding, and the infant requiring neonatal intensive care. Effects that changing recommendations may have on health care workers and care delivery, and how these may contribute to compassion fatigue, will also be discussed.