Table 1. Tweets generated from state health department Twitter accounts by region - midwest and northeast, October 19, 2020 - February 28, 2021, n (%).
| State health department | Total tweets | Number of tweets containing a term related to: | |||||
| N=36,554a | COVID-19 | Vaccines | Race/ethnicity | Equity | Mistrust | Racism | |
| n=20,278a | n=8,913a | n=439a | n=398a | n=217a | n=21a | ||
| Midwest, n=12 | |||||||
| OH | 1,104 (3.02) | 621 (3.06) | 200 (2.24) | 10 (2.28) | 2 (.50) | 32 (14.75) | 0 (0) |
| MN | 763 (2.09) | 480 (2.37) | 104 (1.17) | 24 (5.47) | 6 (1.51) | 2 (.92) | 0 (0) |
| IN | 651 (1.78) | 432 (2.13) | 147 (1.65) | 8 (1.82) | 5 (1.26) | 1 (.46) | 0 (0) |
| WI | 617 (1.69) | 352 (1.74) | 101 (1.13) | 9 (2.05) | 11 (2.76) | 1 (.46) | 0 (0) |
| IL | 608 (1.66) | 454 (2.24) | 145 (1.63) | 6 (1.37) | 4 (1.01) | 2 (.92) | 0 (0) |
| SD | 563 (1.54) | 330 (1.63) | 131 (1.47) | 1 (0.23) | 0 (0) | 2 (.92) | 1 (4.76) |
| MI | 545 (1.49) | 351 (1.73) | 147 (1.65) | 14 (3.19) | 15 (3.77) | 3 (1.38) | 2 (9.52) |
| KS | 500 (1.37) | 148 (.73) | 72 (.81) | 11 (2.51) | 7 (1.76) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| MO | 402 (1.10) | 165 (.81) | 143 (1.60) | 5 (1.14) | 5 (1.26) | 3 (1.38) | 0 (0) |
| ND | 375 (1.03) | 286 (1.41) | 41 (.46) | 3 (.68) | 1 (.25) | 3 (1.38) | 0 (0) |
| NE | 245 (.67) | 97 (.48) | 59 (.66) | 4 (.91) | 2 (.50) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| IA | 138 (.38) | 41 (.2) | 17 (.19) | 3 (.68) | 0 (0) | 1 (.46) | 0 (0) |
| Northeast, n=9 | |||||||
| MA | 2,462 (6.74) | 1,520 (7.50) | 460 (5.16) | 17 (3.87) | 17 (4.27) | 45 (20.74) | 0 (0) |
| NY | 2,246 (6.14) | 974 (4.80) | 477 (5.35) | 25 (5.69) | 37 (9.30) | 8 (3.69) | 1 (4.76) |
| RI | 1,648 (4.51) | 714 (3.52) | 367 (4.12) | 7 (1.59) | 20 (5.03) | 7 (3.23) | 1 (4.76) |
| NJ | 1,115 (3.05) | 545 (2.69) | 330 (3.70) | 21 (4.78) | 18 (4.52) | 6 (2.76) | 0 (0) |
| VT | 1,049 (2.87) | 451 (2.22) | 281 (3.15) | 11 (2.51) | 12 (3.02) | 11 (5.07) | 2 (9.52) |
| PA | 926 (2.53) | 519 (2.56) | 232 (2.60) | 3 (.68) | 0 (0) | 4 (1.84) | 0 (0) |
| NH | 274 (0.75) | 191 (.94) | 57 (.64) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| CT | 130 (.36) | 33 (.16) | 57 (.64) | 2 (.46) | 2 (0.50) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| ME | 1 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
a. N or n is for all four regions (across Tables 1 and 2)
Source: Authors’ analysis of state health department tweets posted between October 19, 2020 – February 28, 2021. Notes: State health departments include the Twitter accounts of the District of Columbia health department and all US state health departments. COVID-19 terms: COVID, coronavirus, pandemic; Vaccine terms: vaccine, vaccination, Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen; Race terms: race, ethnicity, racial/ethnic categories specified by US Office of Management and Budget; Equity terms: (in)equity, (in)equality, (in)justice, disparity; Mistrust terms: trust, mistrust, distrust, hesitancy; Racism terms: racism, racist. Derivatives of terms are included.