Expectant Mothers Fled NYC to Give Birth During Pandemic

More women from New York City traveled to surrounding areas to deliver a baby in 2020 versus the year prior, according to a CDC report.

Compared to 2019, out-of-town births increased for all months in 2020, ranging from a relative 15% jump in September to a 70% jump in April, reported Elizabeth Gregory, MPH, of the CDC National Center for Health Statistics, and colleagues.

Out-of-city births peaked in April and May to 10.2% and 10.3%, respectively, up from 6% and 6.2% in 2019, they wrote in a National Vital Statistics Rapid Release.

The researchers noted that among non-Hispanic white women, rates of out-of-city births in April and May rose by 250% during the pandemic. But increases were not as high among non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic women, for which out-of-city births increased in only 2 months out of the year 2020.

“From 2019 to 2020, the percentage of NYC residents giving birth outside of the City increased overall for all months from March through November, peaking in April and May,” Gregory and colleagues wrote. “The timing of the increases in out-of-city births corresponds with the height of the early pandemic in NYC.”

William Schweizer, MD, medical director of the obstetrics unit at NYU Langone Health in New York City, told MedPage Today that these data mirror a decrease in obstetrical volume observed at NYU facilities. The health system noted a 17% decline in volume, Schweizer said, as many of his own patients transitioned to telehealth services and delivered their babies in the outskirts of the city.

“There were a number of patients that were in the hinterlands,” Schweizer said, noting that pregnant patients fled to places like Long Island, Pennsylvania, and parts of New Jersey. Others left the city to live with family members, he added.

Schweizer said that March was not heavily affected at NYU, “but April, May and June, were really decreased.” He began to see patients come back in August.

Interestingly, Schweizer said the decline in births was less so in Brooklyn, hypothesizing that middle and lower-income patients may not have been able to afford leaving the city.

New York City was an early epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis in the U.S., with cases peaking in April 2o2o. In this report, Gregory and colleagues aimed to describe how trends in birth location changed during the pandemic.

The researchers obtained delivery location information from 2018-2019 final birth certificate data, and 2020 provisional birth certificate date for New York City residents.

The overall number of out-of-city births increased in almost all months of 2020, besides January and February. Comparatively, out-of-city birth rates were generally unchanged for most months between 2018 and 2019, with the exception of an increase in February of 2019.

In March 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, out-of-city births increased by 33% from the same time period in 2019. Increases peaked in April and May, but the following months continued to show increased rates of births outside the city compared to the year prior. Out-of-city births were still increased in December 2020, but the change was not significant.

Among non-Hispanic white patients, out-of-city births increased by 49% in March (from 6.3% to 9.4%), 136% in April (6.6% to 15.6%), and 143% in May (6.5% to 15.8%).

There was no significant difference in the rate of out-of-city births among Black and Hispanic women for most months in 2020. Among Black women, out-of-city births increased by 35% in May (5.2% to 7.0%) and 55% in November (5.6% to 8.7%). For Hispanic women, rates increased by 25% in April (5.2% to 6.5%) and 27% in August (5.1% to 6.5%).

Last Updated May 05, 2021