INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
During a press conference at the White House, President Trump today announced that the government is working with Google to build an
online screening website for COVID-19.
Update (4pm PT): Turns out, Trump was wrong
It Verily, not Google, that is building the site
Development is in its early stages and a first rollout will happen in the Bay Area
You can read about what really happening here.
Despite Trump claims, Google isn''t building the coronavirus screening site — and it not
ready
The announcement was short on details, but the idea, it seems, is to give users the ability to enter their symptoms and see if they
None of this sounds extremely complicated, but according to Trump, Google has 1,700 engineers working on this.
According to Debbie Birx, the
White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, users will have to log into this new screening website, fill out a screening questionnaire and
risk-factor questionnaire and then get directed to a &drive through& testing facility.
In some ways, the announcement raises more questions
It unclear what data Google will collect and whether logging in will be mandatory, for example.
The partnership with Google is part of a
larger private sector partnership the White House has set up that also includes Walmart, CVS, Walgreens and others.
We have asked Google
for more details and will update this post once we hear more.
Update (2:20pm PT): So far, all we have is this, but it unclear that Verily
site and the one President Trump talked about are the same:
Statement from Verily: "We are developing a tool to help triage individuals
Verily is in the early stages of development, and planning to roll testing out in the Bay Area, with the hope of expanding more broadly over
time.
mdash; Google Communications (@Google_Comms) March 13, 2020
