Google was surprised by Donald Trump‘s announcement that 1,700 employees were working on a coronavirus testing website at a press conference this afternoon, a source has claimed.
The president told Americans on Friday that Google staff were working quickly to develop the website and were making ‘tremendous progress.’
However, a source at Google told tech website WIRED that company leadership was surprised by the announcement, which went into considerable detail about how it would work.
In fact, a website that is very different to the one described at the press conference is being built by Verily, a healthcare tech company also owned by Alphabet.
It said it was leading the effort to develop the web tool, with the help of an undisclosed number of Google employees.
It will initially only be for the San Francisco Bay Area.
Medical professionals in protective suits wait to take information from people at a new drive-through COVID-19 mobile testing center in New Rochelle on Friday
A medical professional is seen taking information from a person’s ID at the testing center in New Rochelle on Friday
New Rochelle is a suburb of New York City that has one of the biggest clusters of coronavirus cases in the U.S.
Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, holds up a chart showing how the new coronavirus website is proposed to work
Donald Trump is seen giving a press conference in the White House Rose garden on Friday
Verily said in a statement: ‘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.
‘We appreciate the support of government officials and industry partners and thank the Google engineers who have volunteered to be part of this effort.’
About 1,700 Google workers have volunteered to help with coronavirus-related efforts, according to a person familiar with the matter, but it is unclear whether all of them are involved with developing the new website as Trump claimed.
Carolyn Wang, another Verily spokeswoman, said it initially aimed to assess testing needs for people more prone to catching the virus, such as healthcare workers.
But she said Verily now plans to trial the system more broadly at several sites around the San Francisco region.
The Verily spokeswoman did not respond to questions on how data submitted by website visitors would be protected and used.
At today’s press conference Trump said: ‘I want to thank Google. Google is helping to develop a website, it’s gonna be very quickly done, unlike websites of the past, to determine whether a test is warranted and to facilitate testing at a nearby convenient location.
‘Google has 1,700 engineers working on this right now, made tremendous progress.’
Verily said in a statement: ‘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’
Medical personnel arrive to perform COVID-19 infection testing in New Rochelle
The National Guard and first responders are pictured at the drive-thru coronavirus testing facility on Glen Island Park in New Rochelle
An administration presentation showed a potential user would be asked several questions on the website and then given a recommendation as to whether they should get a coronavirus test.
Those requiring a test would be referred to a store that can provide assistance, potentially including a drive-through test, according to the administration’s presentation. Results would be available online in 24 to 36 hours.
New York state opened its first drive-through coronavirus test site in New Rochelle, a suburb of New York City that has one of the biggest clusters of coronavirus cases in the U.S., on Friday.
Cities in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Texas and Washington have also now have drive-thru testing stations.
In Denver, the line was almost four hours long on Thursday and Colorado stopped the service for the rest of the day.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said at Friday’s press conference that the website’s launch date would be known by Sunday night.
Leading U.S. retailers will work with the government to assist with drive-through coronavirus testing, the Retail Industry Leaders Association said.
A large sign instructs motorists to keep vehicle windows closed as they cross into the COVID-19 testing facility New Rochelle
Senior leaders of Walmart, Target, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc and CVS stood with Trump at the announcement.
The tests will be conducted in retail store parking lots and sent to labs to complete testing in partnership with local health departments and diagnostic labs. The testing sites will not be run by the companies.
At Friday’s press conference, Trump also declared a national emergency on coronavirus – allowing him to access $50 billion in emergency funds.
He failed to address when adequate numbers of tests will finally arrive – and one of his advisers said the president only ‘realized’ there was a problem on Tuesday.
And then he threw medical guidelines on testing into chaos saying that he would get one himself – but not because he stood beside a Brazilian Mar-a-Lago guest who tested positive but ‘because I think I will do it anyway.’
The press conference was Trump’s attempt to make amends for his missteps in his national address Wednesday night, when he misspoke about his own travel ban policy – requiring a correction – and leaving the nation uneasy about the steps his administration was taking to combat the disease.
Cities in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Texas and Washington have also now have drive-thru testing stations. New Rochelle in New York is pictured on Friday
The drive-thru testing site in New Rochelle is seen from the air in this Friday photograph
The cooperation with the Trump administration comes as Alphabet faces several antitrust investigations from state and federal agencies over its search and digital advertising businesses.
Trump has accused Google of skewing its search results to portray him negatively.
The company has also attracted the administration’s ire for not renewing a contract to provide its artificial intelligence technologies for a military drone program.
‘Google cozying up to the government doesn’t hurt,’ said Andre Barlow, an antitrust expert with the law firm Doyle, Barlow and Mazard. ‘Obviously there are a lot of factors that are weighed in the antitrust investigation, which could go either way.’
Shares of Google parent Alphabet Inc closed up more than 9 per cent after the announcement.
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