Nurse with five kids dies of COVID before meeting her newborn, California family says

A Southern California mother and registered nurse died from COVID-19 — days following the birth of her fifth child she never got to meet.

Davy Macias was hospitalized with the coronavirus in early August while seven months pregnant after working at Kaiser Permanente in Fontana during the entire COVID-19 pandemic, KTLA reported.

But after she was admitted as a patient, doctors at the hospital weren’t able to offer Macias medication right away due to her pregnancy, her brother, Vong Serey, told McClatchy News. After six days in the hospital, doctors made the call to deliver her baby six weeks early and start treating her symptoms more intensively after the birth.

Macias died on the morning of Aug. 26 without ever meeting her daughter.

“My mom and I went to see her one last time on that bed … that’s an image that’s going to stay with me,” Macias’ sister, Vandana Serey, told KABC.

“She touched everybody’s life,” Vandana Serey added. “When she’s there, she’s an advocate for all of her patients. It’s always for the benefit of the patients and the babies. She’s a great and amazing woman.”

Vong Serey said Macias was not vaccinated when she contracted the delta variant, a highly infectious strain of the coronavirus driving a spike in hospitalizations and death across the U.S., particularly among the unvaccinated

He said he believes his sister was nervous about getting the shot while pregnant.

“She’s a registered nurse, and she was also a frontline worker from the very beginning [of the pandemic] until the very end, when she was admitted for COVID,” Vong Serey said. “The only reason I can think why my sister was unvaccinated was because she was unsure of the outcome of the vaccine.”

On Aug. 11, the CDC announced that the vaccine is safe for pregnant people and urged everyone who is pregnant, breastfeeding, or hoping to become pregnant to get the vaccine. Vong Serey said he heard from Macias’ husband, Daniel Macias, that Davy Macias was admitted to the emergency room on Aug. 7.

“My sister was holding off until something along those lines came,” Vong Serey said. “It was her choice to do that, and it’s sad to see that the announcement was a little too late, she was already admitted for COVID at that time.”

Davy Macias’ husband was also hospitalized for COVID-19 days after his wife and, according to KABC, remains in critical condition.

“His last words before he was intubated were, ‘if you haven’t got the shot, go do so, because you don’t want to be like me,’” Vong Serey said.

The couple went on a beach vacation with their children at the end of July, stopping at an indoor water park before heading home, Vong Serey said. After the family came home, the four children experienced flu-like symptoms for a few days, but quickly recovered.

Daniel Macias’ parents, who live with the family, also contracted symptoms and recovered quickly.

Davy Macias’ five children are currently being cared for by their grandparents, Vong Serey said, and the newborn child is in good health.

“We’re hoping to get the baby out in about two weeks from now,” Vong Serey told KTLA. “But no name for the baby yet, because … Daniel was waiting for Davy to wake up to give the baby the name.”

Health officials have made repeated calls for pregnant people to get vaccinated, especially as the highly contagious delta variant continues to drive the rate of severe disease in pregnant people, doctors from Novant Health told The Charlotte Observer.

The delta variant is also likely the cause of more babies becoming ill with COVID-19 and facing more severe sickness.

“This year we are seeing really sick babies with COVID which is a big change,” Dena Hubbard, a Kansas City neonatologist and public policy chair of the Kansas chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said in an interview with The Kansas City Star.

Pregnant people with COVID-19 have a 70% increased risk of death compared to non-pregnant people with the virus, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only about 24% of pregnant people have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine as of Aug. 21, compared to about 74% of the adult population as of Aug. 30, according to CDC data.

Another study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology in March found that pregnant and breastfeeding people who receive the coronavirus vaccine gain similar COVID-19 antibodies as non-pregnant and non-lactating people.

“Anything we can do to keep mom healthy is going to be better not only for mom, but also for the baby so I definitely strongly recommend that any pregnant individual get the COVID-19 vaccine,” Hubbard told The Kansas City Star. “It’s the best tool that we have.”

This story was originally published August 31, 2021 at 5:41 PM with the headline "Nurse with five kids dies of COVID before meeting her newborn, California family says."