'Miracle Mom' Who Gave Birth In Coma Finally Holds Her Baby

POYNETTE, WI — Kelsey Townsend is known to her medical team at St. Mary's Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, as the "miracle mom." Not only did Townsend give birth while infected with the coronavirus, she did so Nov. 4 while in a medically induced coma, according to WKRC and other Wisconsin news stations.

Now, almost three months later, the Poynette, Wisconsin, woman finally got to hold her baby, Lucy. It is a reunion that was anything but certain.

Townsend's condition continued to worsen after giving birth in the coma, and doctors told her family members she might need a double lung transplant just to survive, WKRC reported.

"She was in critical care. I mean, and that best explains it. There were many times that we didn't think that she was gonna make it through the night," her husband, Derek Townsend, told the news station.

He told Wisconsin Public Radio his wife's color was off, and she was having difficulty breathing the morning before giving birth to Lucy. Her blood oxygen levels were in the 40 percent range when normal levels are around 95 percent, he said.

Derek Townsend told WKRC it will be "really nice to have her home," crediting the baby for giving her the strength.

"Having the baby inside her is what kept her going," he told Wisconsin Public Radio. "I’ve been told by doctors we were hours away from a different outcome that day we went in."

"Knowing that she is going to meet Lucy and be with the kids, and she's very excited for that," he told WKRC.

The Latest

President Joe Biden told Democratic lawmakers Wednesday he's “not married" to an absolute number on his $1.9 trillion COVID rescue plan but that Congress must “act fast” on relief for the pandemic and the economic crisis, according to The Associated Press.

Biden also said he won't budge from his proposed $1,400 in direct payments promised to Americans. But he said he is willing to “target” the aid, which would mean lowering the income threshold to qualify for the money.

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican, had already proposed limited the direct payments to people making less than $100,000 a year.

“Look, we got a lot of people hurting in our country today,” Biden said. “We need to act. We need to act fast.”

Biden said, “I’m not going to start my administration by breaking a promise to the American people."

The president's vow came a day after his administration said coronavirus vaccines will soon be delivered directly from the federal government to pharmacies.

The Biden administration plans to begin sending 1 million vaccine doses to some 6,500 pharmacies every week, Jeff Zients, White House coronavirus coordinator, said Tuesday.

CVS Health has already said it will begin receiving these vaccines beginning Feb. 11, the first day of the program. Walgreens will begin a day later, according to a report from Politico.

"This will provide more sites for people to get vaccinated in their communities," Zients said, according to The Associated Press. "This is a critical step to provide the public with convenient trusted places to get vaccinated in their communities."

In addition, the federal government has committed to giving at least 10.5 million vaccine doses to states over the next three weeks. That's 500,000 more than have been shipped in recent weeks, the AP reported.

Vaccine makers themselves are also thinking of ways to expand the inoculation effort in the United States, which distributed its 50 millionth dose just this week.

Moderna, the drugmaker that produced one of the two coronavirus vaccines approved so far for use in the United States, is asking officials to allow it to put more vaccine into its vials. The company has said it can raise the number of doses per vial from 10 to 15, according to a report from The New York Times.

The Food and Drug Administration's limit on doses per vial has inhibited the potential vaccine rollout, Moderna spokesman Ray Jordan said Monday, the NYT reported.

States have differed in which workers should be at the front of the vaccine lines. Teachers are on the eligibility list in almost half the states, The New York Times found this week. A chart shows teachers are eligible for the vaccine in 24 states and the District of Columbia, although in some states teachers are eligible in certain counties.

A chart with results of the Times survey shows health care and long-term care workers eligible in all states, with adults 80 and older eligible in all states but Rhode Island.

The Ocean State is the only one still in the first phase of its vaccination rollout, the Times reported. All others have age thresholds, between 65 and 80, allowing their oldest residents to get the vaccine now.

Rhode Island Health Director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott told the Times their expanded vaccine eligibility is moving slowly because officials want to make sure the most at-risk people get the vaccine first.

Not all of the nearly 34 million Americans who have received doses are still alive, as a report of a Florida doctor who died weeks after taking a dose sparked concerns over the safety of the vaccine. But experts have said there's no evidence to suggest any deaths of people who have taken the vaccine are related to the dose.

“These vaccines have had incredible safety profiles in the trials and post-authorization. So far, there has been nothing to confirm these awful events," Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children's Hospital, told ABC News.

Health experts are again warning against holding large gatherings, with perhaps the year's biggest sporting event, Super Bowl LV, set for Sunday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said that when it comes to Super Bowl parties during the pandemic, people should "just lay low and cool it," according to an Associated Press report.

He said during TV interviews Wednesday that now isn't the time to invite people over for watch parties, because of the possibility that they're infected with the coronavirus and could sicken others.

"You don't want parties with people that you haven't had much contact with," he told NBC's "Today" show. "You just don't know if they're infected; so as difficult as that is, at least this time around, just lay low and cool it."

Speaking of the Super Bowl, the competing Kansas City Chiefs had a coronavirus exposure scare this week after a barber who visited the team’s facility later tested positive for the coronavirus.

About 20 players and staffers, including star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, were planning to get haircuts from the barber. The Chiefs halted the haircuts quickly after learning of the positive test result, according to a Washington Post report.

After being alerted to the possible exposure, the Chiefs placed wide receiver Demarcus Robinson and reserve center Daniel Kilgore on their COVID-19 reserve list Monday. Both were classified as high-risk close contacts to the barber, who had several negative test results before being allowed into the facility.

Newest Numbers

More than 55.9 million vaccine doses have been distributed and 33.8 million administered in the United States as of Thursday morning, according to the CDC. More than 27.1 million people have received one dose, and more than 6.4 million have received two.

At least 3,683 deaths and 117,811 new cases of coronavirus were reported in the United States on Wednesday, according to a Washington Post database. The Post's reporting shows that over the past week, new daily reported cases have fallen 16.3 percent, new daily deaths have fallen 6.3 percent and COVID-19-related hospitalizations have fallen 14.5 percent.

Currently, 91,440 people are hospitalized with a coronavirus-related illness in the United States, according to the Covid Tracking Project.

As of Thursday, 34 states and U.S. territories remained above the positive testing rate recommended by the World Health Organization to safely reopen. To safely reopen, the WHO recommends states remain at 5 percent or lower for at least 14 days.

As of midday Thursday, the United States had reported more than 26.5 million cases and nearly 453,000 deaths from COVID-19-related illnesses, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Stay up to date on the latest coronavirus news via The New York Times or The Washington Post.

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