On average across the globe, 250 babies are born every minute.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic slowing the world down the birth rate has not.
The Kelowna, Vernon and Penticton hospitals welcomed a total of 561 babies from March 17 to May 24.
Of those babies, 328 were born at Kelowna General Hospital, 143 at Vernon Jubilee Hospital and 90 at Penticton Regional Hospital.
While many women gave birth at hospitals, some mothers-to-be in the province were forced to change their plans to minimize the risk to themselves, their babies, as well as their families.
Interior Health (IH) said when the public health emergency was declared due to the pandemic, a process was developed for each hospital, which meant identifying expectant mothers who presented COVID-19 symptoms and those who didn’t.
The mothers were then separated, which allowed staff to care for both groups.
Fortunately, instances of the virus have been relatively low in the province. IH reports it has never encountered issues with reaching capacity in the region.
“But plans are in place at every maternity site to accommodate both COVID-19 suspect and non-COVID-19 mothers,” IH stated.
Other health authorities also put a limit on the number of people that can accompany an expectant mother, to minimize the risk of exposure and spread of the disease.
