Pregnant Savannah Guthrie Will Not Travel to Rio for the 2016 Olympics Due to Zika Concerns
Newly pregnant Savannah Guthrie is playing it safe by not traveling to Rio de Janeiro, where there are Zika virus concerns. (Photo: Getty Images)
During the June 7 broadcast of Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie announced that she is pregnant with her second child. Although this is certainly an exciting time for the journalist and her husband, Michael Feldman, it comes with a bit of disappointing news on the professional front.
Due to concerns about the Zika virus, Guthrie said that she will not be traveling to the 2016 Olympics in August as planned. “I’m not going to be able to go to Rio, so you’ll have to go to beach volleyball without me,” she said, according to USA Today, but she mentioned that she is “looking forward to the campaign season.”
The Zika virus is a mosquito-borne illness that causes severe birth defects in newborns, particularly microcephaly, which is when babies are born with abnormally small heads. In October 2015, Brazil confirmed the link between the Zika virus and microcephaly. The World Health Organization is recommending that pregnant women not travel to areas where Zika virus is prevalent, including Rio de Janeiro.
According to Neil S. Silverman, MD, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the perinatal point person for the California Department of Public Health who is handling Zika questions, it’s a “very wise” call for Guthrie to skip Rio.
“The primary risk is travel to areas with local transmission of the virus,” Silverman tells Yahoo Beauty. “Outside of those areas, people are not at significant risk. As of this week in the United States, for instance, there are no cases of local transmission — although I still get about three to five calls a week about concerns in the United States.” Silverman points out that this may change with summer travel and an uptick in mosquito activity, so keep an eye out for updates.
Outside of the country, couples need to be more careful. In addition to Brazil, popular vacation destinations like Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Latin America are all high-risk areas for Zika, and should be avoided by pregnant women, Silverman says. “Really look at the CDC chart before planning a ‘babymoon’ or last-chance vacation,” he says. “It’s entirely appropriate to avoid travel to endemic areas.”
Even if you or your partner are not currently pregnant, exercise caution if there’s a chance you could become pregnant or plan to be in the near future. Silverman says that men and women who have traveled to high-risk areas but have not experienced Zika symptoms — full-body rash, muscle and joint pain or weakness, pink eye-like symptoms — should still wait eight weeks before they try to conceive and that they should use a condom during sex, as some who contract the virus may never exhibit physical symptoms.
If you’ve traveled to an endemic area and have experienced symptoms of the virus, women should wait eight weeks before they try to get pregnant, and men should wait six months before they engage in unprotected sex, Silverman says. “Women have it a little easier, since the Zika virus seems to live in semen longer than blood,” he explains.
Guthrie is one of the most high-profile figures to opt out of the Olympics in Rio this year. Others, like U.S. soccer’s Hope Solo, have expressed concerns about Zika, and a few more have chosen not to participate in the Games, like cyclist Tejay van Garderen, whose wife is currently pregnant.
In general, whether you’re pregnant or in the early stages of family planning, it’s best to play it safe by knowing your Zika risk and choosing your travel destinations wisely. If you have to travel to a high-risk area, practice safe sex to avoid pregnancy.
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