COVID-19 and a baby boom—or bust?—in New York
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR) — Whenever a big event keeps people home—like a blizzard or a blackout—hospitals check in nine months say that many bored couples decided to expand their family. Now, with COVID-19 halting sports, concerts, plays, movie theaters, restaurants, bars, and the workplace, one might have thought we'd see an uptick in the number of babies born of the lockdown.
A researcher at the University of Maryland tells the website NBC LX that, so far, this is not the case. Several states that track birth statistics in real-time show births dropped by 5% in Arizona, 8% in Florida, and 7% in Ohio in December 2020 compared to December 2019.
“People make long-term decisions when they have confidence about the future, and if there's anything that undermines confidence about the future, it's this massive pandemic,” Phillip Cohen, a demographer and sociologist at the University of Maryland told NBCLX.
Time Magazine reports a Brookings Institution study predicted the number of births in the U.S. will fall by as many as 500,000 in 2021.
Another survey, cited by Time from the Guttmacher Institute found 34% of sexually active women in the U.S. blamed concerns over COVID-19 for their decision to either delay getting pregnant or have fewer children.
Some Central New York hospitals shared their numbers with NEWS10's Syracuse station. So far the results are mixed, if not inconclusive.
Crouse Hospital reported that the number of babies delivered there actually went up in December, climbing from 259 in 2019 to 305 in 2020.
January's births at Crouse are slightly behind. One year ago this month Crouse had 246 births. As of January 26, the number of babies born at the hospital stood at 219.
St. Joseph's Hospital in Syracuse reports births are down from December of 2019 compared to December of 2020.
The hospital reported 166 births in January of 2020, and so far, St. Joe's is reporting a drop in births for January of 2021.
Mohawk Valley Health Systems in Utica reports its deliveries in December of 2020 were consistent with the numbers in December 2019. Though a spokesperson pointed out some physicians retiring may have had an impact.
Oswego Health tells us November and December of 2020 was down 13 births from the same period in 2019.
Based on births so far in January and the number of women expected to deliver in February the number of births are down 45 from the same period a year ago.
Upstate Community Hospital reported virtually no change December to December, but with just four days to go in January had almost 30 fewer births compared to last year.
Guthrie's Cortland Medical Center showed an increase in December, up 13 over last year. With five days left in January, the hospital is down seven babies from last year.
Forty weeks is the time a full-term baby spends in its mother's womb. So, the first week in December would be full-term babies conceived at the beginning of the lockdown. The coming months will reveal whether the projections hold.