New mom only got to hold newborn baby "a few short minutes" before dying from COVID, family says

A 30-year-old Florida woman battling COVID-19 died on August 6, just days after undergoing an emergency C-section weeks before her due date. She was only able to hold her newborn "for a few short minutes" before being rushed to the ICU and soon after put on a ventilator, her family said. 

Kristen McMullen had started to develop symptoms of COVID-19 roughly three weeks before her due date, her family said. She was soon in the hospital with COVID pneumonia — a common complication from the virus. She was initially sent home after four days with antibiotics, but in less than 48 hours she returned to the hospital with breathing problems.  Doctors soon performed an emergency C-section to deliver McMullen's baby. Her family says she was able to hold her daughter, Summer, for just "a few short minutes before she was rushed off to the ICU."