The results reveal how each of these two factors—infection and the pandemic—separately contributed to substantial racial and ethnic disparities in perinatal outcomes, particularly among Black and Asian birthing people. UC Berkeley researchers analyzed California birth certificate and hospital data from 2019–2021, which included 849,401 singleton live birth deliveries before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Even though we were focused on health disparities, both COVID-19 infection and the pandemic were associated with a higher risk of many adverse health outcomes for all racial and ethnic groups,” said lead author Emily Liu, PhD candidate in Epidemiology. This exacerbated the much higher burdens of negative health outcomes already experienced by Black pregnant people. Overall, the highest proportion of those with COVID-19 infection was found among Hispanic pregnant women.