MEXICO – The maternity areas of Mexican hospitals are already preparing for the arrival of more babies than they had planned for this year, because the COVID-19 pandemic, experts anticipate, will cause a significant increase in births.
“Women stopped attending health centers and fertility increased,” says Gabriela Rodríguez, head of the National Population Council.
He assures that the confinement and isolation due to the health crisis resulted in a growth in the members of many families.
“We expect 120,848 pregnancies, added to the 170,000 that we know there are each year,” says Rodríguez.
Roberto and Brenda Tenorio are part of these figures. They claim that they never thought of having a child in the midst of the current health situation, but it just came.
“Right now the baby, thank God, is fine, we have been monitoring since week eight when we found out she was pregnant,” says Tenorio.
The pandemic requires precautions to protect newborns.
Statistics and office appointments also show a worrying aspect, which is that teenage pregnancy at this time increased by up to 30%.
The reasons, says the official of the agency that analyzes population growth, are practically the conditions that the virus created.
“Teenage boys or girls are not going to school and are dating,” says Rodríguez.
“I feel nervous knowing how to take care of him,” says 16-year-old Wendy González, who will have to exchange books for diapers.
“I didn’t have it planned, it was something that happened, but well, I’m already here giving life to someone else.”
And the trend indicates that as long as the coronavirus does not allow it to return to normal, the number of cribs required will continue to grow.
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