White House Misidentifies Google as Creator of Coronavirus Screening Site
President Trump incorrectly states that Google is building a nationwide coronavirus screening website, when the project actually belongs to Alphabet's Verily division and remains in early development.
President Trump announces at a White House press conference that 1,700 Google engineers are building a nationwide coronavirus screening website to direct symptomatic individuals to drive-through testing locations. However, this claim is inaccurate because the project is actually under development by Verily, which is Alphabet's life sciences division and a completely separate entity from Google.
Verily releases a statement clarifying that the triage tool is only in the early stages of development and plans an initial rollout exclusively in the Bay Area. The company notes that some Google engineers volunteer to assist with the project, but the site is nowhere near the completed, nationwide platform that White House officials describe during the briefing.
White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Debbie Birx and President Trump fail to mention these significant limitations during the press conference. As a result, the public receives a misleading impression that a fully functional, broad-scale screening solution is immediately available to help manage the ongoing pandemic.