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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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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