
Alphabet, Walmart join U.S. effort to speed up coronavirus testing - ramblenode
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-google/google-walmart-join-u-s-effort-to-speed-up-coronavirus-testing-idUSKBN21036R
======
zaroth
Google made the following statement on Twitter;

 _Google is partnering with the US Government in developing a nationwide
website that includes information about COVID-19 symptoms, risk and testing
information.

This is_ _in addition_ (emphasis added) _to other measures we are taking,
including:

\- A Google “home page promotion” to promote greater awareness of simple
measures citizens can take to prevent the spread of the disease;

\- Work being done by our sister company Verily to launch a pilot website that
will enable individuals to do a risk assessment and be scheduled for testing
at sites in the Bay Area;

\- Promoting authoritative information through Google Search and YouTube;

\- Taking measures to protect users from misinformation, including phishing,
conspiracy theories, malware and misinformation;

\- Rolling out free access to our advanced Hangouts Meet video-conferencing
capabilities to all G Suite and G Suite for Education customers globally until
7/01/20;

\- Advancing health research and science; and financially supporting global
relief efforts.”_

So one of two things happened. Either the media largely got the story wrong,
claiming that Google was not actually working on nationwide website like Trump
described, perhaps the media was confused by the multiple efforts underway at
Google and misreported the Verily work the only thing that was going on.

Alternatively, after Google sent out their internal memo asking for volunteers
and got 1,700 replies (the 1,700 engineers that Trump mentioned) they still
weren’t actually planning to build a nationwide site, but after Trump
announced it on national news and praised Google for their work, he
effectively forced them to volunteer to do the work. This seems less likely to
me.

However there is just a tremendous amount of arguing and misinformation in
this thread claiming that Google is only doing the Verily thing, when in fact
Google has come out and declared that they are in fact working on a nationwide
site, at Google, in addition to the Verily work.

[https://mobile.twitter.com/Google_Comms/status/1238989460127...](https://mobile.twitter.com/Google_Comms/status/1238989460127338497)

~~~
KirinDave
I mean, I thought the media was right and I work at Google. I knew the Verily
site existed (a member of my team helped with a production readiness review
last week).

So if they went and looked for Googlers who knew about the national effort and
came up bank, and then didn't get immediate confirmation from Google, then
they ran with a story.

Obviously I am but a small part of this massive machine and even though I am
in a lot of the COVID-19 chats and have been engaged with various technical
readiness efforts since we'll before US took it seriously, so maybe I missed
it. But also, I wouldn't be surprised if the Executive has just recently
enlisted Google to do this.

The "1700 engineers" number is super weird. That's much too high to be any one
reasonably sized team, but it's definitely smaller than the impact footprint I
infer at Google.

So my prediction is Trump said nonsense but the Executive decided to try and
make it reality afterwards. Google as a company would _definitely_ jump on
doing this sort of thing for free.

~~~
paulie_a
The 1700 number is just replies then mistated in the speech.

That wouldn't be the actual size of the team I bet.

~~~
KirinDave
Source?

~~~
paulie_a
The article which has the word replies in it regarding the number of
volunteers.

------
foxyv
In the meantime the Walmart in my home town is firing people for getting sick
because they can't afford to go to a doctor for a sick note.

------
aazaa
> “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,” Trump said.

It's important to watch the press conference on this topic for context.

The website is supposed the be the front line in the CDC's revamped testing
effort. There are still far too few tests for everyone to get one, so they are
being rationed. The website was to be the first stop made by a person who
wanted to get tested.

No website, no coordinated testing effort.

All indications are that the president's announcement was premature and caught
Alphabet, Verily, and Google flat-footed.

[https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/13/google-says-its-
not-p...](https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/13/google-says-its-not-
publishing-a-national-scale-coronavirus-site-anytime-soon-after-trump-
announcement/)

The president's bald-faced attempt to use this bogus announcement to elevate
the stock market should be transparent to anyone paying attention. The presser
was held just before the market close, just for this reason.

This is very, very bad.

~~~
jpster
This was my interpretation, too. If you watched the presser, it was clearly
about a website into which you could enter your symptoms and then be directed
to a testing site if needed. Nationwide. Verily’s first set of subsequent
statements refuted this.

------
iamleppert
Google, with their enormous warchest of money could be providing free test
kits for everyone, not developing some chinch web site locator that could be
built in an afternoon by a single developer.

They have clearly seized upon the moment for PR.

~~~
tootie
They maybe could. But so could the federal government and it's their actual
job.

~~~
76543210
If I didn't pay taxes my mortgage would be paid off, I could quit/work from
home for a decade.

How much abundance would we have without the federal government?

~~~
TSiege
If we didn't pay taxes we wouldn't have schools, roads, or the internet, and
maybe even your mortgage (along with countless other things). So imagine where
you life would be without it.

~~~
76543210
None of those are paid by the federal government.

~~~
TSiege
Actually it does for all of them!

\- Schools: The US department of Education contributed 8% of all funding to
the entire public school system of the US in 2012-13. (source:
[https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/fed/role.html](https://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/fed/role.html))

\- Roads: "The Congressional Budget Office estimates that Highway Trust Fund
tax revenue will total $41 billion in fiscal year 2018" (source:
[https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-
highway-t...](https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-highway-
trust-fund-and-how-it-financed))

\- Internet: Not only was the internet created by the Department of the
Defense in the 1960's and 70's (source:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet#History](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet#History))
It's expansion is also subsidized by the FCC (source:
[https://www.fcc.gov/consumer-governmental-affairs/about-
bure...](https://www.fcc.gov/consumer-governmental-affairs/about-
bureau/office-native-affairs-and-policy/federal-broadband))

\- Mortgages: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac provide important stabilization and
support to the mortgage industry. (source:
[https://www.fhfa.gov/SupervisionRegulation/FannieMaeandFredd...](https://www.fhfa.gov/SupervisionRegulation/FannieMaeandFreddieMac/Pages/About-
Fannie-Mae---Freddie-Mac.aspx))

------
MilnerRoute
The New York Times has a story delving into the different levels of commitment
that's been reported for Google (in a story last updated on Sunday):

"With Google executives eager to show they are working with the president, the
company [Verily] is racing to meet the promise even as they acknowledge that
the debut of the website will be far more limited than Mr. Trump has
suggested..."

[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/us/politics/trump-
google-...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/us/politics/trump-google-
coronavirus.html)

"Mr. Trump’s comments caught Google completely off guard and executives rushed
to issue a statement on Friday afternoon to temper expectations, making it
clear that the website is an effort led by Verily, not Google itself... Since
then, Google executives have scrambled to coordinate with the White House in
an effort to do as much as possible to make the president’s vision for the
website a reality."

------
MilnerRoute
For what it's worth, here's what CNN was reporting Friday night:

Google will not be publishing a national-scale website for coronavirus testing
anytime soon, contrary to claims made by President Donald Trump during a
Friday news conference.

Instead, a health-focused subsidiary owned by Google’s parent company,
Alphabet, intends to launch a small-scale website next week to begin to triage
California-based patients. The website will aim to serve a broader population
only “over time” — not “very quickly,” as Trump said.

“What we’re building is a triage tool that will live on ProjectBaseline.com,
and we plan to pilot it in California next week,” said Carolyn Wang, a
spokesperson for the Alphabet subsidiary, Verily.

“Our aspiration is for the triage tool to be used much more broadly over time.
Initially, we’re linking it with several sites in the Bay Area to test and
iterate, and collaborating closely with organizations like Quest Diagnostics
and Labcorp who are also working on additional approaches to making testing
more accessible and expedient in other areas.”

[https://www.siliconvalley.com/2020/03/13/google-says-its-
not...](https://www.siliconvalley.com/2020/03/13/google-says-its-not-
publishing-a-national-scale-coronavirus-site-anytime-soon-after-trump-
announcement/)

~~~
vikinghckr
This is older news. Latest news from today is Google is also working on a
nationwide testing website.

~~~
wh1t3n01s3
Yes, after the speach, this is the point. Its trivial that google now is going
to do it.

------
vikinghckr
Found it strange that some parts of media decided to focus on the semantics of
Google and Verily being different subsidiaries of Alphabet. This is an almost
meaningless detail.

~~~
tootie
Because it's yet another detail that he's gotten wrong and shows that he's not
paying attention. He made several incorrect statements about who is building
the site, how many people are working on it, when it will be ready and who the
target audience is. It's been a valve of mistakes this week that just show he
isn't treating this seriously.

~~~
cactus2093
Yes but that’s the point, the news coverage should help to focus on the
important details that were wrong, like will this service ever be available
and when. Misusing Google in place of Alphabet is not even worth correcting
someone on in a casual conversation, much less focusing articles on during a
crisis.

~~~
jmull
The media is also focusing on that. “The media” isn’t one guy with time for
only one thing.

There are thousands talking and writing for hours each a day. There’s going to
be a lot of trivia with the meaty content.

------
Animats
Except that Google isn't doing that and said so.[1]

[1] [https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/13/google-says-its-
not-p...](https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/13/google-says-its-not-
publishing-a-national-scale-coronavirus-site-anytime-soon-after-trump-
announcement/)

~~~
Jommi
Can you point out to me the statement where Google denies working on the web
tool?

~~~
calebrob6
Google Communications says here that Verily (a sister company to Google) is
working on a small scale tool for the Bay area:
[https://twitter.com/Google_Comms/status/1238574670686928906](https://twitter.com/Google_Comms/status/1238574670686928906)

~~~
tathougies
Verily is an Alphabet subsidiary. To the majority of Americans, 'Alphabet' is
Google, because Alphabet is the successor organization to Google the company.
All these ridiculous technicalities are nuts. No one cares that Alphabet
decided to reorganize to maximize shareholder value. Alphabet is literally
Google, and still trades under that ticker (GOOG). When people talk about
Google the company, they mean Alphabet, and you know that.

Like, most people on HN talk about how 'Google Fiber' is part of Google, but
really it's not, it's part of Alphabet, which owns the trademark Google. Or
again, when GV (formerly known as Google Ventures) invests in a company,
people say 'Google invested in <blah> company', because GV is alphabet, which
is Google because... Google the company means Alphabet in common parlance.
Stop nitpicking.

~~~
umanwizard
The important part is not google vs alphabet, it’s the fact that their site
will only be available for the Bay Area.

~~~
threeseed
And that there isn't 1700 people working on it.

~~~
tathougies
Good point. The most important part of the speech is the number of engineers
working on it. If we have 1699 it might not work but if only we could know we
had 1700 then we would all be saved /s.

~~~
threeseed
Number of engineers is a sign of the scale and significance of the project.

------
partingshots
Most people don’t know what Alphabet is, or that Google and Verily are under
it’s umbrella. I think it’s fine that they just used Google as a general
place-in term for the article.

------
mitchtbaum
I'm more focused on groceries at the moment..

[https://www.walmart.com/ideas/discover-online-
grocery/google...](https://www.walmart.com/ideas/discover-online-
grocery/google-assistant-voice-ordering-for-walmart-grocery-pickup-
delivery/354497)

~~~
D2187645
I wonder how many people are actually using these voice systems. In public,
obviously zero. Ok google was convenient for a while while driving, but I
havnt used it for months.

Are these alexa/home gimmicks?

Id have to see reviews, quality, stats, visualize a purchase which is not easy
to do over a speaker.

Turning of the light is already in the palm of your hand. I have a smaller 12
room house, light switches are right by the door of each room. Convenience
might be to turn off all the lights in the house at once as I forget to turn
off one or two most of the time. That would still cost a small fortune to
replace all the bulbs.

~~~
monadic2
In my experience these voice assistants are wildly popular among older and
less technically literate people. I have an aunt who has around a dozen alexa-
enabled speakers, tvs, and tablets around the house and constantly talks to
them—weather, news, turning on the radio and music, ordering things on amazon.
She doesn’t appear to be bothered by having to change her behavior to suit the
assistant, including occasionally ordering the wrong item on amazon (!) and
simply saying “play (genre here)” rather than album oriented listening she
normally does, which disturbed me a little bit. Other older people in my life
have similar behavior, and on a related point I’ve gotten at least one
assistant enabled device as a gift for each birthday and christmas for the
last several years (I give them away, I already have too many damn
electronics).

------
mullingitover
The timing of that press conference was really suspicious, and makes me think
this is still all about the stock market and not a public health strategy.

It was scheduled to start at 3:00 PM, but they stalled until 3:30 PM to
actually start it. 30 minutes before the stock market closed for the week. The
longer they talked, the more the market went up. The market loved them.
Everyone's confident that they are delivering competent leadership. Time to
buy! Or so it seemed.

There were a huge number of short sellers in the stock market this week, and I
think the white house knew that the short positions would be expiring at the
end of the day on Friday. By bringing out this dog and pony show with captains
of industry and making these big promises, I think they hoped to take credit
for the inevitable upswing as short sellers brought up the market by closing
their positions.

By doing this, the administration is trying to look like they have the power
to restore confidence in the stock market, when in reality the market is still
badly battered, and they are absolutely culpable.

~~~
taiwanboy
This is a global health crisis that happens to impact millions of workers who
are now worried they might contract coronavirus or they might lose their jobs
if they were in some of the more impacted industries.

To be shorting and attacking the economy and businesses during this time (all
businesses are interconnected, especially ones that provide
food/energy/medical supplies) and be so distrustful of efforts to help ramp up
testing and saving lifes, it’s just wrong.

I happen to know many people who works in cruise industries and hospitality.
These folks are worried sick right now. Those people are who you are shorting

~~~
mullingitover
I'm not supporting or opposing short selling, just pointing out that:

\- It was happening

\- The White House probably was aware of the extent of it

\- They wanted to get credit for the rise in stocks when their actions
actually didn't have any effect (or perhaps even had a negative effect)

~~~
Shivetya
Seriously what do you want the White House to do? Run around like chickens
with their head cut off? I am so damn disappointed at this site often enough
to just delete the book mark. The partisan first, TDS, or call it what you
will, on display here, makes me wonder if I landed on reddit/politics instead
of a tech site.

The government's job is to assure calm, it that requires a little white lie or
a bit of misdirection then so be it. the last thing we need is people in
authority spreading doom and gloom.

~~~
tomrod
Assure effectual calm, I would say. Not wallpaper a crisis for gain of self,
cronies, or political points, which is what the original commenter was
describing.

People need direction and understanding of the severity, which has been
lacking.

------
defaultcompany
What Is the point of increased testing now that it is so widespread in the
community? The message needs to be social distancing even if you are not sick
and if you are sick just assume it is coronavirus and self quarantine.

~~~
robbiep
The point of increased testing is to identify cases, know the true
denominator, impose isolation and allow for contact tracing, all to reduce R0

~~~
peteradio
Isn't it too late? We seem to have cases spread thoroughly across all states.

~~~
koheripbal
No, it is not too late. The number of likely cases is still low enough to make
contact tracing worthwhile to slow the spread.

~~~
peteradio
Ok, I was under the mistaken impression that we likely have a lot of cases,
just under reported due to lack of tests. Perhaps we really only have ~5000, I
had thought it was >100000.

~~~
Maro
There's various factors that contribute to underreporting:

\- not enough testing / 80% of people have mild/no symptoms

\- cases reported today were contracted ~5 days ago, so there's always roughly
a doubling in the pipeline

Right now the official case number is ~3k for the US. Focusing too much on the
number doesn't help (it will keep going up for a while), what matters is doing
things which will stop the spread.

------
chevman
Why is Google (and for that matter Apple) not helping to track the prior
movement of every coronavirus patient where possible to identify additional
potentially exposed individuals?

Seems fairly straightforward given their massive surveillance infrastructure.

Anyone at Apple or Google actually going to pitch in here and offer meaningful
help?

So far, crickets.

~~~
swiley
Because that would be an incredible violation of privacy and is probably
illegal?

I’m not even sure China does that.

~~~
davidw
I found this site about Singapore yesterday. This kind of detail would never
fly in the US. But they do seem to have used it effectively to track the
spread of the disease:

[https://co.vid19.sg/cases](https://co.vid19.sg/cases)

~~~
refurb
Holy crap! That's an impressive set of data.

The first thing that came to my mind is HIPAA (I know it's US only). There are
more than enough details for each patient to figure out who they are. They
list employer, when they traveled, family members, etc.

~~~
fragmede
That level of detail is definitely enough to unmask an individual but if you
wanted to protect the infected person's privacy (while massively violating
others' in order to join the data sets), it seems like it would be possible to
notify an individual that they were exposed, and not leak the infected
person's personal details.

------
newtoday
So, I'm gonna have to go to Walmart to get tested? Wtf? I should be able to go
to my local hospital right now, but there's no tests, and no one will be
wearing PPE when I walk in there.

Fuck this website. Exactly where, in each US state does one go for testing,
right now? Any sources on this?

Edit: I may sound rash, but what I read is Google: it's only in SF Bay, Trump:
there will be a website, and drive through testing, which sounds like in
Walmart parking lots or something. Yes, I'm freaking out.

Can anyone out there answer my question above? Cause the local govt or
healthcare facilities are unable to. Nor Trump, Walmart, or Google (even
Google search)

~~~
tathougies
Because Walmart already has the infrastructure to (a) set up drive-through
testing sites, (b) employees to perform the tests, and (c) the distribution
network to get this test to the majority of America very quickly. Your local
hospital, not being part of a larger chain or system, does not.

These tests are all drive through, that is why you don't need PPE to go in,
because you don't need to go in.

I don't understand the HN hivemind that American companies wanting to help out
Americans is a bad thing.

~~~
newtoday
Okay, if I haven't made it clear. Where do US citizens go get tested in each
state? The answer is NOT Walmart!

~~~
erikpukinskis
In general, almost no one is being tested at this time. That's your answer.

If you are extremely sick, high fever, persistent cough, and quickly
deteriorating then go to the hospital you may be tested.

~~~
newtoday
Thanks. This is an answer, and reprocipates my point in asking it.

