81–90 of 128 posts
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You may not choose to reply if you see this but I'm going to ask anyway: I'm curious if you were concerned about going to the party?
Not really. It was a very small gathering (< 10 people) mostly with people I already had spent a lot of quarantine with (doing camping, kayaking, etc.).
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It’s probably a leading indicator of COVID pneumonia but that probably still takes some days to develop during which time infected people are still contagious. Probably better to stay home or at least wear a mask...
> It’s probably a leading indicator of COVID pneumonia This is incorrect. In some cases, COVID-19 causes blood O2 levels to drop, even while being otherwise asymptomatic. See: https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/hcp/puls...
COVID causes blood O2 to drop because it causes a viral pneumonia. Early stages of a viral pneumonia can be pre-symptomatic or entirely asymptomatic. Asymptomatic patients can still transmit COVID to others. Patients with low oxygen should seek medical attention because their pneumonia can get worse.
Your source says “Many patients with COVID-19 disease have low oxygen levels even when they are feeling well.” These patients have low oxygen because of COVID pneumonia.
The patients take their own measurements with a pulse oximeter and digital thermometer (both off the shelf consumer items). The person is prompted via SMS and submit their vitals via website. A software system orchestrates all of this and alerts patients and clinicians to anyone with worrying numbers.
This keeps beds free at the hospital, but still gets the small percentage of patients back to hospital that get really sick.
It also does all the other boring monitoring and administrative work needed when you're checking up on lots of real people.
Full disclosure. I worked on this project. A version has been open sourced and if you're a hospital or other medical service you're welcome to use our work. We're publishing improvements as we go. https://github.com/rmhcovid/txtmon
https://www.thermh.org.au/news/royal-melbourne-hospital-impl...
Using simple standalone devices and a low-coding platform already in use by hospitals (REDCap) the whole project was crash-built in a couple of weeks and is saving lives. That platform has many shortcomings (messier even than Excel), but there's various medical/privacy rules that make more traditional development unattractive for quickly prototyping. It's been a rewarding project to work on despite many frustrations.
Went to a party last weekend where the host used a pulse oximeter (and thermometer) on everyone. Blood O2 level is apparently a leading indicator of COVID-19. Pretty cool stuff. The inner workings of it are actually quite simple as well, pretty amazing that it works as well as it does.
"Takuo Aoyagi, a Japanese engineer whose pioneering work in the 1970s led to the modern pulse oximeter, a lifesaving device that clips on a finger and shows the level of oxygen in the blood and that has become a critical tool in the fight against the novel coronavirus, died on April 18 in Tokyo. He was 84."
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/01/science/takuo-aoyagi-an-i...
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> It’s probably a leading indicator of COVID pneumonia This is incorrect. In some cases, COVID-19 causes blood O2 levels to drop, even while being otherwise asymptomatic. See: https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/hcp/puls...
What is incorrect? COVID causes blood O2 to drop because it causes a viral pneumonia. Early stages of a viral pneumonia can be pre-symptomatic or entirely asymptomatic. Asymptomatic patients can still transmit COVID to others. Patients with low oxygen should seek medical attention because their pneumonia can get worse. Your source says “Many patients with COVID-19 disease have low oxygen levels even when they are fee…
This article seems to be saying that it happens even when pneumonia isn't present:
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/why-don-t-some-coron...
Unfortunately, the article is not as clear as I would hope, but that's how I read it at least.
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How long did you hold your breath for?
Perhaps 30 seconds? It was uncomfortable but not a big strain. I see someone nearby saying 2-3 minutes. For me, it was not that long!
That's obviously not a confirmation that it's calibrated or trustworthy, but at least it shows a relative measure that seems real in both directions of oxygen saturdation. Surely if I have a drop due to illness I should notice, even if the number isn't exact.
The Royal Melbourne hospital in Australia is using pulse oximeters to manage COVID positive patients in their own homes. The program was setup in March this year to manage a large number of patients remotely (cost/safety). The patients take their own measurements with a pulse oximeter and digital thermometer (both off the shelf consumer items). The person is prompted via SMS and submit their vitals via website. A sof…
Can anyone recommend an inexpensive fingertip oximeter?
https://www.amazon.com/Zacurate-Fingertip-Oximeter-Saturatio...