- Isn't this hugely important Shyaku? Archived Message
Posted by walter
on April 23, 2020, 12:12 am, in reply to "Pulse oximetry .."
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At the risk of boiling down too much, is this the gist of the article: 1) Of the covid-19 victims that have pneumonia, many - "the vast majority" - have very low oxygen levels (quote: "seemingly incompatible with life") by the time they get to hospital, and don't know it. The article explains why this only happens with covid-19 patients. They are breathing fast but under no other visible respiratory strain (though x-rays will soon reveal terrible pneumonia). Many will be destined by then to require a ventilator. 2) A pulse-oximeter (a relatively cheap gadget you stick your finger in and it tells you your blood oxygen level) would reveal this condition days sooner - a precious gain of time both for the patient and for the critical care staff. "All patients who have tested positive for the coronavirus should have pulse oximetry monitoring for two weeks, the period during which Covid pneumonia typically develops. All persons with cough, fatigue and fevers should also have pulse oximeter monitoring even if they have not had virus testing, or even if their swab test was negative, because those tests are only about 70 percent accurate. A vast majority of Americans who have been exposed to the virus don’t know it." It sounds too simple to have been missed - will this now be rolled out? Cheers |