Yes, I Bought a Pulse Oximeter Today

Just to follow up on this morning’s post, I did indeed go out to Walgreens and buy a pulse oximeter today:

Why not? It was cheap, and since I have breathing problems anyway it might be handy to have around. My reading of 97 percent is fairly ordinary. Below 90 percent is considered low. Below 85 and you might start thinking about checking into the ER for a COVID-19 test.

BY THE WAY: A reader emailed to tell me that you can get an oxygenation reading using an app on your cell phone. Don’t do it. I did a quick scan of the literature and phone apps got slammed pretty hard. If you’re going to bother with this at all, just buy a real one.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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