Despite what President Donald Trump said during the issuance of a national emergency for the coronavirus pandemic, Google said it is not working with the US government in constructing a COVID-19 testing site.
Instead, a far smaller trial website made by some other department of Alphabet, Google's parent enterprise, is going up. It will most effectively be able to direct people to try out facilities within the Bay Area.
More than an hour after Trump's press convention, a Google communications Twitter account surpassed along with the following announcement from Verily, that's a different corporation inside the Alphabet corporate umbrella:
Statement from Verily: "We are developing a tool to help triage individuals for Covid-19 testing. 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. — Google Communications (@Google_Comms) March 13, 2020
ALSO READ : Trump Declaration of National Emergency Amid Coronavirus: What It Means and How Do You Prepare
Triage site made exclusively for healthcare workers in the Bay Area, but it's not ready yet
Carolyn Wang, communications lead for Verily, told The Verge that the "triage website" was initially going to be made exclusively for healthcare workers. Now that it has been announced the way it was, Verily decided everybody can get access to its services. But the tool will best be able to direct humans to "pilot sites" for trying out in the Bay Area. However, Wang says Verily hopes to expand it beyond California "over time."
The triage site should be put live in a few days, and it will be hosted at Project Baseline. On this Verily website, humans can sign up to take part in clinical trials. That's a seemingly odd location for the triage tool to live. However, Wang says that Project Baseline already has specific vital tools like a knowledgeable consent agreement, so it makes sense to put it there.
Verily mentions explicitly that the site is in its "early stages." The White House did not mention the fact that this site wasn't ready yet or that it would only roll out in the Bay Area at first.
Instead, anybody following the press conference inevitably came away with the thought that the site was mainly ready, given its pivotal role in the overall screening process.
Trump claimed Google has 1,700 engineers working in the site
In a press conference, Trump claimed Google is going to develop a website that is going to determine if a test is warranted and to facilitate testing at a nearby convenient location.
The President also claimed that Google has 1,700 engineers working on the project right now. Google clarified that number comes from a company-wide call for volunteers that CEO Sundar Pichai raised last week, the Verge reported.
As Birx defined the site, residents would be able to input their signs and symptoms be directed to a "drive thru" testing facility. That same site could reputedly also be where people can go to find their results.
Unfortunately, nobody knows much about the internet site Birx described yet - including its URL, when it will launch, or how it's going to work. The best issue the public does recognize is that Google did not build the site; it's far being constructed via every other department of Alphabet as a substitute.
Alongside the website, the President's emergency announcement has to open up to $50 billion in funding, new testing facilities, and new partnerships with private corporations to provide testing services.
