CA Nurse, 37, Dies Of Coronavirus After Giving Birth

FONTANA, CA — A 37-year-old nurse in San Bernardino County died of COVID-19 nearly two weeks after giving birth to her fifth child. Her husband was still hospitalized in critical condition with the virus as of Monday, family members said.

Davy Macias, a labor and delivery nurse at Kaiser Permanente in Fontana, never met her newborn child. She had worked since the beginning of the pandemic up until she was hospitalized with COVID-19 at seven months of pregnancy.

Her husband, Daniel Macias, was still intubated as of Monday, according to a GoFundMe campaign launched by Davy Macias' sister.

The Yucaipa nurse died Thursday after battling COVID-19 in the hospital since Aug. 12. As her symptoms worsened, a doctor decided to deliver the baby six weeks early, her brother, Vong Serey, told KTLA.

Serey doesn't believe she was vaccinated because she was fearful about how it would affect her pregnancy.

"She was healthy as a horse," Serey said.

Davy and Daniel both tested positive for the virus after traveling to a water park in late July, Serey said. Serey said Daniel told family members before he was intubated that those who are unvaccinated should do so.

"COVID doesn't play by the rules. It doesn't matter — you're young, old — it can hit anybody at this point," Serey told KTLA, adding that he also changed his mind about getting vaccinated. "When it hits this close to home, it does, it really affects you. It opens your eyes."

As of Tuesday, the family's GoFundMe campaign had raised $111,133 of its $125,000 goal to help with family expenses.

The couple have five children — ages 7, 5, 3, 2 and a 2-week old infant who has not yet been named. Serey said Daniel Macias had wanted to wait until Davy woke up.

"Currently, Daniel is still in critical condition but he is fighting to stay here with his babies," Serey wrote on the GoFundMe page on Monday. "We cannot express how grateful we are that so many people are coming together to help the Macias Family."

On Aug. 11, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published new data confirming the safety of coronavirus vaccines for pregnant people.

"CDC encourages all pregnant people or people who are thinking about becoming pregnant and those breastfeeding to get vaccinated to protect themselves from COVID-19,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statment. "The vaccines are safe and effective, and it has never been more urgent to increase vaccinations as we face the highly transmissible Delta variant and see severe outcomes from COVID-19 among unvaccinated pregnant people."

The analysis did not find an increased risk of miscarriage among nearly 2,500 pregnant women who received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine shot before 20 weeks of pregnancy, according to the CDC.

Typically, miscarriage can occur in about 11 to 16 percent of pregnancies. In the study, miscarriage rates were around 13 percent, similar to the rate of miscarriage in the general population, according to the CDC.

Additionally, data from three reports did not identify safety issues for pregnant people who were vaccinated late in pregnancy.

"Combined, these data and the known severe risks of COVID-19 during pregnancy demonstrate that the benefits of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine for pregnant people outweigh any known or potential risks," CDC officials said.

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