A group of 60-odd youngsters, who didn't know each other till a few weeks ago, are working tirelessly together to provide information on resources to those asking for help on micro-blogging platform Twitter
Twitter Warriors Nairit Gala and Anushka Jain
On April 17, Vinay Srivastava (65), a journalist from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, died after his oxygen levels dropped to an alarmingly 31 SpO2 percentage. Till his last breath, Srivastava kept posting on Twitter about his deteriorating health and kept begging the UP government to get medical help. He suffered for 20 hours, and his Covid-19 test report showed him as positive, after his death.
This incident shook 20-year-old Nairit Gala. “Whenever I recall this instance, it gives me the chills. Seeing someone die in front of you [virtually] is devastating. I could feel the hopelessness and anguish his family must have gone through. You can't let something like this slide. It was like a turning point for me,” says Gala, who is based in Mumbai.
As the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic gripped India, and the health care system buckled under its weight, microblogging site Twitter got flooded with tweets asking for help to get hospital beds, oxygen, ventilators, Remdesivir, plasma, and other essentials for Covid-19 treatment. Gala wanted to help and do as much as he could for those in need. He started off with retweeting the SOS requests, only to realise that it was not enough, and something more had to be done. Gala started maintaining a database of resources and kept looking out for people who needed help. There were many others who are also actively providing leads to those looking for urgent support.
During the course of his efforts, Gala was introduced to Anushka Jain (20) via Twitter who is also volunteering to provide leads to Covid-19 resources, after losing four close relatives to Covid-19. “After looking at people desperately asking for help on Twitter, I realised the shocking condition of this country. I immediately started retweeting and replying to as many tweets as possible. I felt this was not enough because a lot of tweets were being missed and needed more engagement,” says Indore-based Jain.
Twitter Warriors