Unverified Twitter users reveal front-line realities
Verified Twitter accounts traditionally have been held up as legitimate sources of information and potentially strong influencers of opinion. In some online communities, however, unverified users serve as microinfluencers and, despite not having earned the “legitimate” tag, they are certainly more informed and potentially more influential than your average user pontificating on the latest news.
That’s noticeable in forums such as #medicaltwitter or #medtwitter, which is swimming in health care professionals, medical students and health care-aligned interest groups. A Paraqeet survey over several August days showed typical chatter from researchers, doctors and medical professionals sharing or commenting on the latest research, medical students seeking advice on where to apply for residencies, and established practitioners and researchers offering mentoring tips.
Throw the search term #COVID-19 into the mix, however, and it highlights a slew of professional, unverified users sharing posts to fight disinformation from their patients, vaccination success stories, and news and research findings explaining the changing understanding of the effects of a COVID-19 infection. Most recently, Paraqeet highlighted their front-line horror stories and pleas for the public to vaccinate.
Dr. John Daniel (@JohnDanielMD), listed as a neonatal cardiac intensivist and ECMO director in Missouri, posted that newborn babies are contracting COVID-19. “If that won’t make people get #vaccinated, I don’t know what will.” Although he had 1,939 followers, his post was retweeted 4,400 times. Comments contained robust dialogue from new moms detailing the precautions they’re taking with who they allow near their newborns to other medical professionals noting “the war has changed.”
Another physician, Marc J. Saint-Jour (@MSaintjour_MD), detailed the increasing number of COVID-19 patients admitted to his hospital — 142, compared to just one last month. “The delta variant is no joke. Please get vaccinated,” he wrote.
The dangerous fallout of hospitals crowded due to the coronavirus was readily apparent in this tweet from Dr. Patrick M. Looser (@PLooserMD), an interventional cardiologist in Charleston, South Carolina.
He wrote that his patient suffering a heart attack couldn’t be transferred to his hospital for an artery opening because it was “full of unvaccinated COVID-19 patients. Please get vaccinated. It may not save your life but it may save someone else’s.”
Alarmed practitioners elsewhere inquired about the patient’s outcome and, while an alternative treatment was used, Looser commented, “Elective procedures are on hold. Our nurses are redeployed. It is a very trying time.”
Speaking of the same domino effect of consequences elsewhere in the medical chain, Bassam Ghanem (@ABsteward), an infectious diseases clinical pharmacist and drug therapy specialist with 33,600 followers, posted: “You think #COVID19 is bad until you see Candida auris.” The comment accompanied a story on patients suffering from a superbug fungus that was resistant to all classes of antifungal drugs before the patients were ever even treated with one.
One worried response: “We took our eye off it” during the pandemic.
Amid the stories of heartbreak, frustration and anger, Dr. Comilla Sasson (@comilla_s), a Denver emergency department physician and media contributor with 7, 392 followers who has traveled the country treating COVID-19 patients, simply asked for understanding.
On a regular basis, policymakers and the media refer to and hype the tweets of verified users, but it’s always wise to use Paraqeet to keep an eye on unverified accounts. They often have large followings and can provide that real-time experience and perspective that can shape opinion as easily as a big-name handle.