Family planning is changing for many who are concerned about the potential impact of COVID-19 on their pregnancies, health as pregnant people, or newborns. How will the COVID-19 pandemic affect worldwide fertility trends?<\/span><\/p>\n Learn more about COVID-19 and male fertility.<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The CDC\u2019s recommendations for \u201csocial distancing\u201d may be cutting down on sex. Anna Muldoon, a PhD candidate researching infectious disease and former science policy adviser at the Department of Health and Human Services, <\/span>advises<\/span><\/a> that dating and casual sex is risky at the moment. \u201cThe short line on this is all sex is close contact,\u201d she explains. \u201cSo there\u2019s no way to have it without risking transmission.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Even among long-term couples, caution around passing the virus may be placing distance between partners. Muldoon recommends that, if one partner may be sick, they should \u201csleep in their own room.\u201d The CDC also <\/span>recommends<\/span><\/a> separating members of the household who may have been exposed to the novel coronavirus or who have any symptoms.<\/span><\/p>\n The <\/span>stress and anxiety<\/span> around the COVID-19 pandemic can also feel all-encompassing. Stress is known to lower libido for both <\/span>women<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>men<\/span><\/a>, due to its impact on key sex hormones. Anecdotally, couples are feeling the impact of anxiety around the pandemic on their sex lives: as one women explained to <\/span>Rolling Stone<\/span><\/i><\/a>, despite being quarantined alone together, she and her partner \u201cdefinitely haven\u2019t been feeling the romance vibes the past two weeks or so just because we\u2019ve been generally stressed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n A common trope is that, when people are stuck together in close quarters\u2014such as before a storm\u2014there\u2019s a \u201cbaby boom\u201d nine months later.<\/span><\/p>\n But that concept isn\u2019t really demonstrated by the data. In fact, high-mortality events, like pandemics or natural disasters, are <\/span>associated<\/span><\/a> with significantly <\/span>lower<\/span><\/i> birth rates nine 9\u201310 months later. After the influenza pandemic of 1889\u20131890, for example, the lowest birth rate was seen nine and half months after the height of the flu\u2019s fatality. (The <\/span>same can be seen<\/span><\/a> during the 1918\u20131920 flu pandemic.)<\/span><\/p>\n Researchers speculate that this drop in fertility could be due to impaired conception, \u201cpossibly due to effects on fertility and behavioral changes,\u201d as well as an increase in pre-term delivery and maternal and fetal deaths.<\/span><\/p>\n However, it\u2019s common, historically, to see a \u201crebound\u201d of birth rates in the months or years after 10 months post-pandemic, when those who have put family planning on hold deem it safe to try to conceive<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n The probable drop in births during and following the coronavirus pandemic comes amidst <\/span>the lowest rates of birth and fertility in recorded history<\/b>. <\/span><\/p>\n In July of 2019, the CDC reported that the US birth rate had fallen to an all-time low of 1.72 children per woman. Infertility affects approximately 15% of couples, and nearly <\/span>half<\/b> of all cases of infertility are attributed to a male fertility issue.<\/span><\/p>\n There are economic, cultural, and biological factors at play here. For example, people are marrying less (and later). As of 2015, the <\/span>average age at first marriage<\/span><\/a> was 29.3 for men; just 50 years before, in 1965, that average was 22.8. As a result, the age of parents is increasing, too\u2014since the 1970s, the median age for men becoming first-time fathers has increased by 10 years, from 28.1 to 38.2.<\/span><\/p>\n Sperm<\/a> health decreases with age, which means couples with older men have a higher likelihood of infertility and miscarriage. We know, for example, that women with partners over the age of 35 have a higher likelihood of miscarriage. We also know that sperm acquire a new genetic mutation every 8 months.<\/span><\/p>\n Our modern environment and lifestyles, too, are likely impacting fertility rates. <\/span>Studies of sperm counts<\/span><\/a> demonstrate that <\/span>men today are half as fertile as their grandfathers were<\/b>. Researchers have proposed that <\/span>pollution, diet<\/span><\/a>, or <\/span>exposure to chemicals that disrupt the endocrine system<\/span><\/a> could be to blame, but the cause isn\u2019t 100% clear.<\/span><\/p>\n What <\/span>is<\/span><\/i> clear is that\u2014even post-coronavirus\u2014male fertility is in crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n Learn more about male fertility.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n A little background: The novel coronavirus\u2014dubbed SARS-CoV-2\u2014and the infection it causes, COVID-19, began in the Wuhan province of China in late 2019. <\/span>Coronaviruses<\/span><\/a> are a family of viruses that cause many different illnesses, ranging from the common cold to severe diseases like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The current coronavirus is being referred to as \u201cnovel\u201d because it\u2019s never been seen before in humans; the virus is zoonotic, meaning it made the jump from an animal to a human.<\/span><\/p>\n COVID-19 is a lower respiratory illness; symptoms include coughing, shortness of breath, and fever. In severe infections, more likely to be experienced by the elderly or those with compromised immune systems, it can lead to pneumonia and possibly death. <\/span>According to the CDC<\/span>, the novel coronavirus is spread through close contact via respiratory droplets released into the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes.<\/span><\/p>\nAre people having sex?<\/span><\/h5>\n
Will there be a coronavirus \u201cbaby boom\u201d?<\/span><\/h5>\n
The future of fertility post-corona<\/span><\/h5>\n
\nCOVID-19 basics<\/span><\/h5>\n