The danger of “Covid pneumonia”
Published April 26, 2020
“Covid pneumonia” is the real killer of CoviD-19. And what’s worse is that it’s not always obvious.A vast majority of Covid pneumonia patients I met had remarkably low oxygen saturations at triage — seemingly incompatible with life — but they were using their cellphones as we put them on monitors.Using pulse oximeters could make a huge difference by getting these patients to treatment faster. (Just try buying one, though. Like masks and disinfectant, they’re almost impossible to find.)
