Day 40: 2020 Pandemic. Check Your Oxygen Saturation As An Early Sign of COVID-19 Induced Pneumonia

20 April 2020 (imported to correct account)

We’ve heard all the news about the need for ventilators; a big reason for that is because by the time many people are admitted to the hospital and testing positive for COVID-19, their blood oxygen levels are dangerously low and they’ve basically had a stealth form of pneumonia for a week or more.

Most of the time when you get pneumonia, you are very short of breath. But COVID-19 affects the lungs differently and you can feel reasonably fine despite the fact you are hypoxic.

If you start experiencing any of the other symptoms of COVID-19 it would be wise to track your blood oxygen level. If its going down, that’s a danger sign!

I’m not a doctor and here is one article that discusses it by a doctor, but it makes sense.

I bought a pulse oximeter today at the local CVS. It appears others have learned of this because they are on back order on Amazon, although not too badly and I’ve noticed a lot of backordered items are shipping faster than posted. Pictured is one that…