Another Expectant Mother Dies of COVID-19; Leaves Behind a Newborn

A mother of four, including a newborn, succumbed to COVID-19 earlier today at the Belize Healthcare Partners Limited. Cindy Flowers, a resident of Placencia, becomes the latest expectant mother to pass away after a bout with the disease.  Earlier this week, a GoFundMe page was established in order to raise funds for Cindy. On Thursday morning, an emergency C-section was performed on her in an attempt to save her unborn child. The operation was successful but sadly, Flowers lost her battle with COVID. The tragic loss raises the question of the mortality rate among pregnant women. According to Dr. Diaz-Musa, it’s a phenomenon that is being experienced worldwide.

Melissa Diaz-Musa

Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa, Deputy Regional Health Manager, Central Health Region

“That’s something that’s happening globally.  I think the CDC, over the last two or three weeks, they have really been putting out a lot of ads and encouraging pregnant women across the board to come in and get vaccinated.  Belize, because we are in this outbreak and we have seen that over August and September five pregnant women have succumbed to directly related to COVID-19.  For these, especially due to this we are trying to encourage as many persons as possible to come in to get the Pfizer vaccine.  And we do know that from the end of August to now, we’ve given about three hundred and twenty doses to pregnant women but it may be much more, but these are the doses reported to us from the different clinics.  We’ve got to look at all the data and see exactly how many women have been taking up the vaccine, but it’s definitely encouraged and it’s something that we urge our pregnant women to come out and to get the Pfizer vaccine.  It will help with reduction of severe illness from COVID-19 with hospitalization and it can prevent death.”