U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday declared a national emergency over the fast-spreading coronavirus. In addition to providing about $50 billion in federal aid to fight the disease and temporarily suspending interest on student loans, Trump said Google is "helping to develop" a website that will help users determine if testing is needed and where the nearest testing location is.
Trump said the search engine giant has 1,700 engineers at work to build the website. "Users will be directed to fill out a questionnaire, including detailing any symptoms, and if deemed necessary they will be directed to a nearby drive-thru test site that the U.S. government is preparing to roll out across the country," reports Business Insider. It's not yet clear when this website will launch, but Trump said Google has already "made tremendous progress."
UPDATE: Despite what President Trump said, Google is not working with the U.S. government in building such a website. "Instead, a much smaller trial website made by another division of Alphabet, Google's parent company, is going up," reports The Verge. "It will only be able to direct people to testing facilities in the Bay Area."
Since it was announced the way it was, anybody will be able to visit it but the website will only be able to direct people to "pilot sites" for testing in the Bay Area, though the hope is to expand it beyond California "over time." "As for the 1,700 Google engineers Trump referenced in the press conference, that appears to be related to a call for volunteers Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai put out in a company-wide memo earlier this week," adds The Verge.
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