April 21, 2020

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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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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