As we feared,  more hospitals are following suit and banning all support for people in labor and postpartum units.  The hospitals now banning support include all in the New York Presbyterian system and all Mount Sinai Hospitals. 

No one should give birth alone.  These extreme rules are going to increase maternal and infant mortality.  We don't have enough nurses to spend the contact hours needed with people in labor to ensure their and their baby's health and safety.  The hospital system will be only be further overburdened with people suffering birth injuries and babies needing continued high level NICU care.  

The long term effects of these rules will long outlast the effects of the virus, itself.