The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported Wednesday there were 861 maternal deaths (23.8 deaths per 100,000 births) reported in the U.S. in 2020. That's up from 754 (20.1 deaths per 100,000 births) in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S.

Using the National Vital Statistics System, the CDC cites the World Health Organization (WHO) definition of maternal deaths, which is “the death of a woman while pregnant within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause, related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes.”

According to the CommonWealth Fund, the U.S. has one of the highest maternal death rates of Western, or “developed,” nations. However, the report did not specifically measure the pandemic's impact.

A spokesperson for the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) told CNN that “the contribution of COVID-19 to increases in maternal deaths has not yet been fully examined by NCHS; however, an initial review of cause of death among maternal deaths indicates that it may be difficult to discern the role of COVID-19 as it contributed to a maternal death.”

However, the CDC’s report broke down the numbers by age and race, finding that “non-Hispanic Black women'' experienced 55.3 deaths per 100,000 live births, which is nearly 3 times the rate of maternal deaths for “non-Hispanic white women.” Both Black and Latino women who gave birth in 2020 experienced increased rates of maternal death in 2020 compared to 2019, while white women did not experience a significant increase.

The pandemic’s effect on Black and Latino communities has been shown to be more significant than its effects on white communities due to a lack of access to adequate healthcare, higher rates of comorbidities, poverty, etc. Asian American and Pacific Islanders also have higher rates of maternal deaths, though those communities were not specifically addressed in the CDC’s report.

Dr. Janelle Bolden, an assistant OB-GYN professor at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, told the Associated Press that the report is not a shock.

“The pandemic has uncovered the disparities in access to care, healthcare quality, and delivery. It has also laid bare the lack of support for public health and social agencies that many people rely on for basic needs . . . These disparities and inadequacies lead to poor care and worse outcomes,” she said.

The Black Maternal Health Caucus in the House of Representatives has introduced a bill to combat the crisis in Black communities, called the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act of 2021.

When broken down by age, the report found that for 2020 those under the age of 22 experienced 13.8 deaths per 100,000 births and those aged 25-29 had 22.8 deaths per 100,000 births. Those 40 and older experienced 107.9 deaths per 100,000 births.

The rate of maternal deaths for women aged 40 and older in 2020 was 7.8 times higher than for those “under age 25.” An increase in deaths related to pregnancy from 2019 to 2020 was statistically significant for women aged 25-39 and 40 or older.

While the report did not dive into the role COVID-19 had in raising those numbers, the profound impact the pandemic has had on hospitals and healthcare workers likely had an effect on pregnancy care that exacerbated already present concerns. It is also possible that the virus itself could have caused problems with some pregnancies that led to a higher rate of maternal deaths for 2020.

However, maternal deaths have been rising steadily in the U.S. since the 1990s, according to CNN. It has tripled in the past 35 years according to the AP, which reports that a decade ago there was an average of 16 deaths per 100,000 births.

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