Mississippi state health officials say eight pregnant Mississippi women have died from the COVID-19 coronavirus in the last four weeks.

“It’s been a rough month and a half,” Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said Wednesday. “The Delta surge has really been stressful. It’s overwhelmed our health system, and it’s caused a number of deaths.”

Among those deaths, Dobbs said, are eight pregnant women.

“Sadly, we’ve seen a pretty significant number of pregnant women who have died,” he said. “Currently, we’re investigating eight reports of pregnant women who have died, all of whom were not vaccinated.”

Dobbs said the pregnant moms became sick with COVID causing them to seek hospital care.

“They were admitted because they were sick and they had covid and they were admitted to save the baby,” he said.

Dobbs said the health department is still researching several of the cases, but that he know that at one particular hospital, the babies survived, even though the mothers did not.

“(Some of) the babies were born premature, but were alive,” Dobbs said. “It’s still a tragic and difficult circumstance.”

Dobbs also said COVID-19 has also proven harmful to unborn children, too.

“With COVID we’ve seen a doubling of fetal demise or the death of the baby after 20 weeks,” he said, adding that the state has recorded 72 fetal deaths associated with pregnant mothers who had COVID.

Dobbs said that number is twice the average rate the state sees.

“Covid is extremely dangerous,” he said.