Premature Baby Contracts CCP Virus and Recovers, Becoming One of UK’s Youngest Survivors

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A premature baby girl, believed to be Scotland’s youngest CCP virus patient, has recovered to the great relief of her parents and her medical team. Now, the baby’s mother hopes that sharing their story will help reassure anxious expectant parents who might need to visit the hospital in the near future.

Baby Peyton Maguire was born on March 26, 2020, eight weeks before her expected due date. Peyton’s mother, Tracy, 27, suffered suspected pre-eclampsia and was sent to Wishaw General Hospital in Lanarkshire, Scotland, to give birth.

Peyton was delivered via cesarean section weighing just 3 pounds and 5 ounces (approx. 2 kg).

The baby girl was looked after in the hospital’s NICU for three weeks until the staff noticed that she had a sniffle and a light cough, which is the reason she was tested for a range of viruses, including the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus.

“It was the first time I'd seen my baby cry tears,” Tracy told BBC News, recalling the distressing moment doctors swabbed Peyton’s nose to test for the CCP virus. “I held her, I was crying, and we were just trying to get each other through the situation.”

“They said, ‘She’s fine, don’t panic, but she has tested positive for coronavirus,’” Tracy further explained.

Peyton was tested positive for the CCP virus on April 15. Devastated upon learning the news, Tracy began to wonder how her premature baby girl would fight the virus. “It was just the unknown,” said the new mom.

However, NHS staff rallied around Peyton, delivering steroids to help her tiny lungs battle the virus. Tracy initially was almost unable to remain by her daughter’s side owing to isolation restrictions—she was advised to self-isolate for 14 days following her cesarean section but pleaded with staff to be allowed to stay in the hospital with her baby girl.

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“[I] was sobbing and really worried about how it could affect her respiratory system, her lungs, and if it was life-threatening,” Tracy said, according to the Daily Mail. The doctors compromised and allowed Tracy to stay with her baby on the condition that Tracy’s partner, AJ, 28, observed the 14-day isolation before resuming visitations with his daughter.

As Tracy witnessed Peyton’s medical team work to help care for her baby, she had nothing but praise. “They put their lives at risk to make sure my baby was getting fed and cuddled,” she said. “Even wearing their PPE, they were determined to hold her.”

(Illustration - Dmitry Kalinovsky/Shutterstock)

Peyton’s health soon improved. On April 21, Tracy and Peyton were discharged from the hospital after the little girl tested negative twice.

NHS Lanarkshire’s chief midwife, Cheryl Clark, spoke on behalf of her team: “We’re delighted that the fantastic care Peyton has received from our staff has meant she is well enough to go home, allowing AJ to be reunited with his wife and daughter,” Clark said, according to The Independent.

Reunited, the new parents were finally able to hold and care for their baby girl in the comfort of their own home in the town of Bellshill, North Lanarkshire.

Reflecting on her family’s traumatic experience, Tracy told the BBC, “[NHS staff] are doing a job that is unreal [..]”

“It’s spectacular, you'll never understand how grateful you can be to people,” Tracy further added. “To any moms that are worried, put your trust in these nurses.”

Finally able to look to the future, Tracy told The Independent that she hopes “to bring some joy to everyone with our beautiful girl.” She also added: “My message to any moms-to-be is that they shouldn’t be worried about going into hospital to give birth because the staff know exactly what they need to do to protect everyone from the virus.”

Baby Peyton has beaten the deadly virus and grows stronger every day.