On Thu, 31 Dec 2020 15:53:31 +0000, David wrote:

In these harsh Covid times there are reports of no spare beds, and
hospitals running out of oxygen.

It is a reasonable assumption that one could catch Covid, need oxygen,
and find that there are no beds available and no spare oxygen cylinders
for home use as supplies have run out.

I can see that you can buy an oxygen concentrator for around £250-£300.
I also see from https://bnf.nice.org.uk/treatment-summary/oxygen.html

"Under the NHS oxygen may be supplied as oxygen cylinders. Oxygen flow
can be adjusted as the cylinders are equipped with an oxygen flow meter
with €˜medium (2€¯litres/minute) and €˜high (4€¯litres/minute) settings.
Oxygen delivered from a cylinder should be passed through a humidifier
if used for long periods.

Oxygen concentrators are more economical for patients who require oxygen
for long periods, and in England and Wales can be ordered on the NHS on
a regional tendering basis. A concentrator is recommended for a patient
who requires oxygen for more than 8 hours a day (or 21 cylinders per
month). Exceptionally, if a higher concentration of oxygen is required
the output of 2 oxygen concentrators can be combined using a €˜Y
connection.

A nasal cannula is usually preferred for long-term oxygen therapy from
an oxygen concentrator. It can, however, produce dermatitis and mucosal
drying in sensitive individuals.

Giving oxygen by nasal cannula allows the patient to talk, eat, and
drink,
but the concentration of oxygen is not controlled; this may not be
appropriate for acute respiratory failure. When oxygen is given through
a nasal cannula at a rate of 1€“2€¯litres/minute the inspiratory oxygen
concentration is usually low, but it varies with ventilation and can be
high if the patient is underventilating."

From that I assume that an oxygen concentrator would be the preferred
solution if Covid was bad enough to require oxygen.

That leads to a couple of questions:

(1) Is the risk high enough to justify buying an oxygen concentrator as
an insurance policy?

(2) If so, how do you tell how good (or not) the ones advertised on line
are?

Oh, and Happy New Year.

Dave R


--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64


My wife has Pulmonary Hypertension and gets breathless quickly, so I
bought her one of these for Christmas.....https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/
product/B086ZQ8D4W/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1