A large study from Massachusetts found that babies whose mothers had COVID-19 while pregnant were slightly more likely to have a range of neurodevelopmental diagnoses by age 3. Most of these children had speech or motor delays, and the link was strongest when the mother was infected late in pregnancy and in boys.

The increase in risk was small for any one child, but because millions of women were pregnant during the pandemic, even a small increase matters. The study doesn't prove that COVID-19 infection during pregnancy causes autism or other brain conditions in the fetus, but it suggests that infections and inflammation during pregnancy can affect how a baby's brain grows, something scientists have seen before with other illnesses. It's reason to help pregnant women avoid COVID-19 and

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