Google confirms Verily is building a tool to expedite COVID-19 testing in the Bay Area initially; Trump says Google has 1,700 engineers working on the project

Dr. Debbie Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, speaks at a White House press conference on Friday, March 13, 2020.

Vox 2020-03-14 Peter Kafka

Context & Ripple Effects

At Friday's White House briefing, President Trump described a Google-built COVID-19 testing triage system and put its headcount at 1,700 engineers. Google's confirmation narrows that picture considerably: the work is Verily's, Alphabet's life-sciences unit, and Verily says the triage site will launch only in the Bay Area within days, not nationwide as the briefing implied. A follow-up overview of Google's actual COVID-19 work shows how far the reality sits from the comprehensive testing system the announcement suggested.

First-order effects

Verily is now racing to stand up a Bay Area screening tool under an expectation set at presidential-press-conference scale, with Google publicly confirming the project to correct the record on scope and staffing.
Bay Area residents get a triage funnel within days while users elsewhere are told to wait, making geography — not need — the gatekeeper for who can even start the testing process.

Second-order effects

Google is compelled to announce a separate, government-partnered nationwide website for symptoms, risks, and testing information to reconcile the gap between the White House framing and what Verily can actually ship.
Other large tech companies now face implicit pressure to volunteer pandemic-response infrastructure on similar timelines, since the administration has demonstrated it will announce private-sector projects before the companies have confirmed them.

Third-order effects

The episode points toward crisis logistics being routed through a handful of platform companies whose consumer identity systems — Verily's site requires a Google account login — become de facto public-health infrastructure, raising access and privacy questions that outlast this outbreak.

The trend: Emergency public-health capacity is being outsourced to big-tech platforms faster than governments can verify or scope what those platforms will actually deliver.

Discussion

@google_comms @google_comms on x
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.
@nxthompson Nicholas Thompson on x
OMG. Google's not making a nationwide coronavirus testing website. And the company had no idea the president would say it was. https://www.wired.com/...
@darrenrovell Darren Rovell on x
3:42 p.m. ET on Friday: Trump says Google is developing a nationwide website that will be “very quickly done” to help qualify Americans for drive-thru tests. Google, 94 minutes later: We aren't close to having this ready and it's not guaranteed to be nationwide. https://twitter.c…
@cnbc @cnbc on x
Google is making a coronavirus information site to help find testing as more kits become available https://www.cnbc.com/...
@cwarzel Charlie Warzel on x
this is bananas. i asked a senior engineer at google about a nationwide program this afternoon and they told me “No comment because there is nothing to comment on” https://twitter.com/...
@panzer Matthew Panzarino on x
So. - Verily building the site, not Google (they are both Alphabet companies) - The site is not ready and will not be ready ‘on Sunday’ or soon. - The scope of the site is currently planned to be ‘the Bay Area’ at launch, not ‘America’
@biannagolodryga Bianna Golodryga on x
Umm.... “A source at Google tells WIRED that company leadership was surprised that Trump announced anything about the initiative at the press conference. What he did say was also almost entirely wrong.” https://www.wired.com/...
@billprady Bill Prady on x
Why doesn't anyone in the White House fact check before the president speaks? https://twitter.com/...
@pierce David Pierce on x
I say again: honestly, what is happening https://twitter.com/...
@joelockhart Joe Lockhart on x
The President needs to stop talking and let the experts take over. https://twitter.com/...
@inafried Ina Fried on x
Update. To be clear. Sundar Pichai sent a memo - yesterday - asking for volunteers and 1,700 people raised their hand. But they aren't yet involved and it's unclear how many will ultimately be needed or used for the project.
@deray @deray on x
The lies continue. https://twitter.com/...
@panzer Matthew Panzarino on x
This was the little box at the top of the chart that everything else in the testing flow depends on. So what happens to the rest of that process to direct people to testing facilities now?
@eff @eff on x
We hope this site will not collect data beyond what is pertinent for assisting in the crisis. Any data collection and digital monitoring of potential carriers of COVID-19 should take into consideration and commit to these principles: https://www.eff.org/...
@jetjocko Adam Rogers on x
One might well have asked, I now realize, why nobody from Google was up there next to the dudes from Walmart etc. with the president. https://twitter.com/...
@ranimolla Rani Molla on x
Gonna work great in Manhattan https://www.vox.com/... via @voxdotcom https://twitter.com/...
@garylegum Gary Legum on x
For anyone concerned about giving Google your private medical info through its coronavirus screening website, good news! The president lied, the company isn't building a site. https://twitter.com/...
@edavies Eric Davies on x
It shouldn't come as a surprise really - he does it all the time - but Trump was completely making stuff up at today's press conference. Just complete and utter fabrications (and Wall Street bought it, hook, line, and sinker). https://www.wired.com/...
@foxcahn Albert Fox Cahn on x
I spoke too soon: we'll also hand over key health data to Google...what could possibly go wrong? 😨 “the announcement raises more questions than it answers...It's unclear what data Google will collect and whether logging in will be mandatory, for example."https://techcrunch.com/ .…
@lutherlowe Luther Lowe on x
It would be trivially easy for Google to build what Trump described. This was probably a Google lobbyist spitballing to help however they could & with idea to bring HQ into loop later. Google's looking for any angle to seek favors they can in DC right now, esp via Jared. https://…
@joenbc Joe Scarborough on x
They had a press conference about parking lots and half-baked ideas in “the early stages of development”. They brought along a few hand-shaking CEOs for Wall Street. The President insulted a black woman. -30- https://twitter.com/...
@jaketapper Jake Tapper on x
Google's parent company says it is “developing a tool to help triage individuals for Covid-19 testing....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...” https://twitter.com/...
@ecmclaughlin Elizabeth C. McLaughlin on x
It's all a fucking lie. https://twitter.com/...
@erickfernandez Erick Fernandez on x
A blatant #sponsored Rose Garden press conference to juice stocks in the last hour of trading on a Friday but provided little-to-no information on actual testing. https://twitter.com/...
@shoq @shoq on x
Holy shit. They just made it up? But so what? We have no recourse against these authoritarian wannabes. We're inert. There is no opposition. https://twitter.com/...
@pkafka Peter Kafka on x
*Trump said Google was making a website “very quickly” to direct people to drive-through coronavirus tests *Pence said he'd have info on *when the site would be available* by Sunday night *Google seems to think none of this is happening soon https://www.vox.com/...
@cmclymer @cmclymer on x
Donald Trump just stood at a podium in the Rose Garden and blatantly lied about Google developing a website that would screen people on whether or not they need a test for the coronavirus. We know this because moments later Google flatly denied it. This is our reality.
@eff @eff on x
We're glad to hear a new website (created with @Google's assistance) will allow U.S. users to enter #COVID19 symptoms they may have to get instructions about if, how, and where to get testing. https://www.businessinsider.com/ ...
@maggienyt Maggie Haberman on x
This is an important asterisk on the announcement today at the White House in terms of the timing of when there will be wide availability > https://twitter.com/...
@lib_crusher Social Distancer on x
and it's not even supposed to be made for the public https://twitter.com/...
@backlon Dieter Bohn on x
aaaaaand there it is, Google wasn't even expecting its name to be mentioned today https://www.wired.com/...
@panzer Matthew Panzarino on x
I'm just a dummy, but it seems to me that this implies that the President and his staff just lied about the extent of Google's involvement, the possible delivery date of this ‘contribution’ and its scope. https://twitter.com/...
@profcarroll @profcarroll on x
Even Trump's mobilizing the private sector is an absolute shit show. https://twitter.com/...
@alexhalliday Alex Halliday on x
One engineer per test that has happened so far. https://twitter.com/...
@jenn_elias Jennifer Elias on x
Scoop: Google is making a #coronavirus information site to help find testing as more kits become available. Internal emails show how Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai is bringing several internal teams together for the efforts. https://www.cnbc.com/...
@mhbergen Mark Bergen on x
And @jenn_elias has the memo: it looks like a partnership between Google and Verily's Project Baseline. https://www.cnbc.com/...
@jyarow Jay Yarow on x
So much for the techlash. https://www.cnbc.com/...

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