Google parent Alphabet Inc. will create a web site that lets consumers identify the symptoms and risks associated with coronavirus, and the nearest locations where testing is available.
Verily Life Sciences, Alphabet's research organization devoted to the study of life sciences, is working with the White House and public companies, President Donald Trump said in a news conference on Friday afternoon. But the project is in its infancy, will be tested in the San Francisco Bay Area, and coronavirus tests are not yet widely available -- Trump said the site was imminent on a national scale with tests available.
"We are developing a tool to help triage individuals for COVID-19 testing," Google said in a statement posted on Twitter a few hours after the news conference. "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."
The site should be ready Sunday, according to Deborah Birx, the White House's coronavirus response coordinator. It would guide Americans seeking coronavirus tests to drive-through clinics in the parking lots of retailers Walmart Inc. and Target Corp. . That assertion, however, would seem weeks away in a best-case scenario.
"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," Trump said.
(Verily has a total of about 1,000 employees.)
Google was not available for further comment. Shares of Google were up 9% in trading following the announcement.
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