Even Google was surprised to hear from Mr. Trump that he was asking Google to make an anti-corona virus website

Yesterday, at a press conference at the Rose Garden, the White House in Washington, USA, US President Donald Trump declared a national emergency due to coronavirus effects. He also said he was enlisting the support of Walmart, Roche, CVS and other large corporations to help deal with the virus and address public concerns.

“I want to thank Google. Google is helping develop a website,” the US president said. He then immediately criticized health care policies under former President Barack Obama. “It will be done very quickly, unlike in the past.” He said the site will serve to “determine if a test is guaranteed to be conducted and also to facilitate testing at a convenient location nearby.”

“Google has 1,700 engineers working on this right now. They have made great progress,” Trump said. “Our most important goal is to prevent the spread of the virus.”

The White House coronavirus coordinator, Deborah Birx, came up shortly after which a diagram showing how users would be tested for risk factors.

US President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency.

The problem, however, is that Google, with no representatives attending the press conference, had not made any previous moves that they had contracted to build any website with the US government. The company this week asked North American employees to work from home.

According to a report by CNBC, according to a memorandum from CEO Sundar Pichai that Verily, the life science unit of parent company Google – Alphabet – is providing technical support for this project.

So just a few hours after Trump’s speech, the Google media team hurriedly posted to its Twitter account: “We are developing a tool to help individuals test COVID-19. Verily is in the early stages of development and planning to deploy the test in the Bay Area, in the hope that the scope will expand over time. “

And that seems far different from what Mr. Trump described.

Immediately after that by Google.

Carolyn Wang, head of Verily’s communications group, told The Verge that they have developed a “classification site” for health-care workers, not the public.

Another Verily spokeswoman, Kathleen Parkes, said: “Our aspiration is a much more widely used processing tool. Initially, we linked it to some of the Bay Area websites. to check and repeat it. “ She said Verily will work with Quest Diagnostics and Labcorp, two companies that are also helping to consolidate and speed up testing.

Another former Google engineer told Protocol that it looks like the company won’t suddenly dispatch too many engineers for a new project. This person said that in the past, the company had its own personnel from multiple departments for special projects. Spokesmen for Google and Verily did not comment on Trump’s number of 1,700 people. The LinkedIn profile shows that Verily has only about 500 to 750 employees.

And clearly, Mr. Trump’s national television statement about using technology to save the nation from the global pandemic – combined with Google’s almost silent response to this issue – put forward. many questions. How would a website help the public to get tested if there were not enough medical supplies in practice? Who will ensure sensitive health data is kept confidential? Is the US president simply saying “wrong” about what is happening, as he has done so many times in the past?

Emily Evans, a health care policy expert and managing director at research firm Hedgeye Risk Management in Stamford, Connecticut, said concerns about hospital overcrowding and transferring resources to support patients. The most vulnerable, making a screening system that avoids unnecessary tests would be a good idea. But the details of how a system works are important to ensure people don’t turn away from it.

“What does the site look like? What questions will it ask?” Evans said. “Did it say something like: ‘You don’t fit the criteria for a test, but check back in a week’?”

It seems that Mr. Trump and the Google CEO have not discussed the site building issues yet.

Some critics question the timing and style of the announcement, saying Mr. Trump’s remarks are like advertising that Google is one of the addresses of addressing the health crisis. And messages like these can be useful for a company struggling with scrutiny and tensions over workforce management globally.

And the consequences of the announcement are quite clear. Alphabet shares rose more than 9% that day.

” I see these as separate issues,” said Dan Ives, a technology analyst and chief executive of equity research at Wedbush Securities of Los Angeles. “This is a national emergency and Google recognizes the resources and innovation it brings to Americans in times of crisis.”

In announcing his collaborative efforts with Google, Mr. Trump skillfully criticized past large-scale government technology initiatives, including the healthcare website that was launched later. when Obama’s Affordable Patient Protection and Healthcare Act was signed into law. The site was built by a network of federal contractors and met technical issues, confusing millions of users before engineers from Google, Oracle and several other companies came to the rescue. still situationally.

According to CNBC, the memorandum for employees from CEO Pichai said patients could be referred to Verily’s current Project Baseline website, which is considered a “human health map” to assist in connecting people with clinical trials.

“With the addition of test kits, planners are looking to develop a roadmap for community health and healthcare agencies to direct people to our Project Baseline website, where the Individuals at higher risk can be referred to test sites, based on the latest guidance from public health authorities, “Pichai said in the memorandum.

Coordinator Deborah Birx said at the White House on Friday that Google’s website will include educational information about COVID-19 symptoms and precautions, as well as a place for individuals to enter information. about their status and getting test suggestions.

Other tech companies are also touting their efforts to deal with the corona virus. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said the company will combine donations of up to $ 10 million for the World Health Organization’s anti-COVID-19 response fund. Salesforce is committed to supporting $ 1.5 million for two different funds. Last week, Pichai said Google had donated money, time and resources to combat the epidemic, but nothing about working with the US government as announced by Mr. Trump.

Also on Friday, Mr. Trump said it was also working with companies including Roche to provide hundreds of thousands of additional COVID-19 test kits early next week. An emergency declaration could also unlock about US $ 50 billion in federal funding for medical centers, testing and other measures.

But equally important, according to expert Emily Evans, it is to curb the virus spread.

“There is a lot of testing done using precious resources,” Evans said. “We should make every effort to limit those things if possible.”

Protocol Reference