Table 2.
The 20 COVID-19 topics inferred from the tweets collected for this study. The topics are presented in descending order according to the number of unique hashtags they hold. The hashtags are presented in descending order according to their frequency.
| Category/topic label | Ten most frequent hashtags | Unique hashtags, n | |
| COVID-19 | covid19, coronavirus, covid, covid_19, pandemic, covid-19, corona, covid__19, omicron, covid-19 | 79 | |
| (1) Misinformation | |||
|
|
Open America | openamericanow, nomasks, vaccinemandate, maskmandate, nomask, donotcomply, reopenamerica, vaccinepassport, vaccinepassports, maskmandates | 73 |
|
|
Covidiots | covidiots, antivaxxers, idiots, moron, covididiots, stupidity, morons, antimaskers, antivaxxer, antivax | 30 |
|
|
China Virus | chinavirus, billgates, ccpvirus, wuhanvirus, wuhan, chinaliedpeopledied, chinesevirus, chinaliedandpeopledied, agenda21, wuhancoronavirus | 30 |
|
|
Dr. Fauci | fauci, drfauci, firefauci, faucithefraud, anthonyfauci, fauciliedpeopledied, fauciemails, faucilied, faucifraud, birx | 22 |
|
|
Plandemic | plandemic, hoax, scamdemic, factsnotfear, covidhoax, fearmongering, kungflu, scamdemic2020, fearporn, coronahoax | 20 |
|
|
HCQ | hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, cnntownhall, remdesivir, hcq, regeneron, hydroxycloroquine, trumpvaccine, hydroxycholoroquine, dexamethasone | 16 |
| (2) Prevention and treatment | |||
|
|
Mandates | wearamask, 2020, staysafe, maskup, stayhome, socialdistancing, quarantine, quarantinelife, mask, lockdown | 397 |
|
|
Vaccine | covidvaccine, vaccine, science, getvaccinated, vaccinated, pfizer, moderna, getvaccinatednow, vaccineswork, covid19vaccine | 198 |
|
|
Essential Worker | essentialworkers, nurses, healthcareheroes, inthistogether, healthcareworkers, frontlineworkers, frontlineheroes, healthcareworker, frontliners, frontlines | 27 |
| (3) Economy | |||
|
|
Stimulus Check | stimuluscheck, stimulus, unemployment, heroesact, americanrescueplan, stimuluspackage, covidrelief, caresact, covidreliefbill, stimulusbill | 28 |
| Economy | economy, housing, homelessness, unemployed, markets, debt, economic, evictionmoratorium, jobsreport, housingcrisis | 26 | |
| (4) News and politics | |||
|
|
Ron DeSantis | deathsantis, desantis, rondesantis, gregabbott, deathdesantis, desantisfailedflorida, floridacovidepicenter, harriscounty, floriduh, desantisvariant | 58 |
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|
Trump Virus | trumpvirus, trumpknew, trumpliesamericansdie, trumpfailedamerica, trumphasnoplan, trumpliedpeopledied, trumpisanidiot, trumpownseverydeath, trumpgate, trumpliespeopledie | 31 |
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|
News | foxnews, news, cnn, breakingnews, journalism, nytimes, abcnews, nyt, newyorktimes, nbcnews | 31 |
|
|
Andrew Cuomo | cuomo, deblasio, killercuomo, andrewcuomo, governor, chriscuomo, fredo, cuomokilledgrandma, cuomocoverup, governorcuomo | 21 |
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|
Trump | trump, donaldtrump, potus, whitehouse, realdonaldtrump, presidenttrump, pence, mikepence, potus45, donaldtrumpjr | 14 |
|
|
Fake News | fakenews, lies, factcheck, propaganda, misinformation, conspiracytheory, disinformation, mainstreammedia, factchecking, bantiktok | 14 |
| Other COVID-19–related topics | |||
| Health | health, cancer, anxiety, depression, publichealth, hiv, diabetes, medicine, doctor, breastcancer | 219 | |
| School | schools, schoolsreopening, schoolreopening, lausd, stayinformed, reopeningschools, nycdoe, publicschools, virtualuntilsafe, dpa | 17 | |