
California Covid-19 risk screening and testing - ryanseys
https://www.projectbaseline.com/study/covid-19/
======
threatofrain
> A Google account is needed to access the Baseline Platform. The information
> you provide will be stored in a secure, encrypted database. Verily personnel
> who need to contact you, such as staff to schedule your testing, will have
> access to direct identification information (your name, street address,
> phone number, and email).

> The information you provide may also be shared with the health care
> professionals who collect your specimen, the clinical laboratory that
> processes your specimen, the California Department of Public Health, and
> potentially other federal, state, and local health authorities, and other
> entities that assist with the testing program. Information may also be
> shared with certain service providers engaged to perform services on behalf
> of Verily, including Google, which Verily leverages for certain technology
> and services, including cloud services, security services, data storage,
> website hosting, and other support functions.

~~~
spectramax
This is infuriating, I am visibly shaking. Why can't Google act out of the
interest of user privacy and stop collecting data in these dire times for
once? Charge me $5, but stop collecting data about me.

Edit: Sorry about my language.

~~~
ekux44
Imagine you worked at Google. Imagine you were tasked with building this
website as quickly as possible. You have available internal tools designed to
work with Google accounts. These tools have already been tested and validated.
They have already gone through some level of security and privacy review. They
have already scaled to high QPS production uses.

~~~
unlinked_dll
I think most of us could do this without Google signin in about 15 minutes.

~~~
Pfhreak
I'll get the stopwatch and generously double your time limit to 30 minutes.
Maybe if they've covered California you could do some of the other states.

------
jpster
> My child is under 18 but I’m concerned they need to be tested. Can I fill
> out the screener questions for them?

Unfortunately no. At this time, only those who are 18 years or older are
eligible through this program and anyone who is prioritized for testing will
need to provide a valid ID to confirm identity at the testing site. Please
consult with your physician if you have concerns about your family’s health.

I don’t understand why this is the case.

~~~
gpm
In Canada, the communication I've been seeing is basically that they are only
interested in testing you if you might need treatment. Since people under 18
are at such low medical risk from this virus, they're probably very low
priority to test. Combine that with the fact that laws probably exist that
make it inconvenient to provide this service for them, and it likely makes
sense to just blanket exclude them from the program.

~~~
ma2rten
As far as I know there is no treatment for COVID-19. Why do they need testing
to determine treatment?

~~~
jessriedel
There is absolutely treatment for the disease. It's just that the treatment is
largely restricted to ameliorating the symptoms while the root cause, the
virus proliferation, is left to the immune system. (The possible exception are
antivirals currently being tested.) Symptom treatment includes things like
concentrated oxygen and mechanical ventilation.

------
lostdog
I looked for "HIPAA" and didn't find it anywhere. Nor the ability to request
that data be deleted. I wish they would take privacy for this more seriously
than Google's baseline level of privacy.

~~~
byproxy
from the FAQ:

> How will you protect my privacy?

>We are committed to maintaining high privacy standards and keeping your data
safe. Project Baseline follows federal and state regulations governing the
collection and use of an individual's data, including the Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Data is stored in advanced systems
with best-in-class security and privacy protocols.

[https://www.projectbaseline.com/faq/](https://www.projectbaseline.com/faq/)

~~~
benjaminmarks
Note that this text only appears under "How will you protect my privacy"
_under the FAQ page_. If you look at the question with the same title on the
landing page, HIPAA is not mentioned

~~~
dragonwriter
That's because one is about Project Baseline in general (the one that mentions
HIPAA) and one is about the special COVID-19 project (the one that does not.)
They are different FAQs about different efforts.

------
bagels
I was curious what this site did, but it just says "Unfortunately, we are
unable to schedule more appointments at this time." at the end of the survey.

------
herpderperator
Interesting how it goes from `projectbaseline.com` to `baseline.google.com`
after you complete the initial questionnaire, but the site continues to look
the same. Why not just have one consistent domain then? Obviously it doesn't
matter as long as it works, and it was built extremely quickly, though it does
make me wonder.

~~~
nrb
I imagine the simplest explanation is that all of these things came together
at the same time by different teams.

------
blendo
Across the top, looking for the gist, and you can "Get Involved", see "Our
Team", peruse "FAQ", and delve into the "Blog".

Next, decide "If you are interested in getting tested for COVID-19, complete
an online screener".

What's the audience? Some might have confusion about terms like Teams, FAQs,
Blogs, and Online screeners.

From the FAQ: "Together with researchers, clinicians, engineers, designers,
advocates, and volunteers like you, we're collaborating to design the next
generation of healthcare tools and services."

------
CaliforniaKarl
The following text is the contents of the Authorization Form that I signed
with I signed up. It was presented to me in a web page, and once I agreed, a
PDF of it was made available to me via a Drive link. Although the file is not
in my Google Drive, I do not know if the link/document is unique to me, so
instead of providing the link, I have copied the text. I did my best effort to
reproduce the formatting: Wherever you see _italicized text_ , that appears
bold in the Authorization Form.

 _COVID-19 PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM AUTHORIZATION FORM_

 _Background_

Public health and healthcare professionals are responding to an outbreak of
respiratory disease caused by a novel (new) coronavirus that was first
detected in China and which has now been detected in more than 100 locations
internationally, including in the United States. The virus has been named
“SARS-CoV-2” and the disease it causes has been named “coronavirus disease
2019” (abbreviated “COVID-19”).

Current diagnosis efforts of COVID-19 are primarily focused on symptomatic
and/or high risk individuals.

Verily, the Alphabet company focused on life sciences and healthcare, has
offered to support public health efforts by providing its data collection
infrastructure to help individuals understand their risk profile for COVID-19,
help facilitate testing if indicated, and provide test results back to tested
individuals in an efficient manner.

 _What will I need to do?_

 _1) Complete a short survey._

This will include questions about yourself, including age, gender, home
address, contact information, recent travel history, current health status,
and any known contact with others who may have been exposed to SARS-CoV-2.

 _2) For those deemed eligible for free testing with this program, schedule an
appointment to go to a local facility to provide a test specimen._

Based on your survey results, if you are identified as eligible for testing
under this program for COVID-19 disease, you will be asked to provide a
biospecimen using a nasopharyngeal (NP) swab.

• You will be asked to schedule an appointment at a local facility. You may be
contacted directly to schedule this appointment or this may be facilitated
through an app or web portal.

 _3) Go to the test facility at your assigned time for the test swab._

At the test facility, you will need to bring a form of identification to
confirm your identity prior to performing the swab collection.

A trained healthcare professional will perform the swab collection.

• This will be done by having you tilt your head back while a trained
healthcare member inserts a sterile cotton swab into your nostril towards the
back of your nose. The swab will be inserted to a depth about the distance
from your outer nose to the outer opening of the ear. Once inserted, it will
be held in place for a few seconds then slowly removed with mild rotation.
This may cause temporary discomfort.

• Your sample will be coded and associated with the data you provided in your
survey.

Your sample will be tested by a clinical laboratory to determine if your
sample is either positive or negative for SARS-CoV2.

4) Follow recommended guidelines based on results of your lab testing.

The lab results will be provided directly to you via email, text, phone call
or through an app or web portal. The testing may take a few days and results
will be returned to you when available.

In addition, results of your test will be provided to public health
authorities, including the California Department of Public Health and
potentially other federal, state, and local health authorities.

 _How will my data be protected?_

Privacy is a top priority.

• Your data will be kept in a secure, encrypted database with restricted,
monitored access

• This database complies with applicable state and federal laws that protect
the privacy and security of your health information

 _Who will access my data and in what form?_

Verily will have access to information that directly identifies you, including
your name, street address, email address, and phone number. This information
may also be provided to Verily’s contractors, the healthcare professionals who
collect your specimen, the clinical laboratory that processes your specimen,
he California Department of Public Health and potentially other federal,
state, and local health authorities, and other entities that assist with the
testing program. The information collected will be sed to perform the test,
administer and improve the testing program, and for public health purposes.

In addition, your survey responses and test results will be provided to
Verily, and may be further shared with the clinical laboratory performing the
testing (for example, Quest Diagnostics), and public health authorities,
including the California Department of Public Health. Public health officials
may use this information to inform public health actions to help protect our
community. Verily will not use your data for research purposes without your
permission. In the future, you may be invited to share data collected during
this process for research purposes.

Verily leverages certain technology and services from Google, including cloud
services, security services, data storage, website hosting, and other support
functions. Google’s access to data is strictly limited to the purpose of
providing such services. Your data collected by Verily through the services
described in this permission form will never be joined with your data stored
in Google products without your explicit permission.

 _Does it cost me anything?_

This survey and lab test will be provided at no cost to you.

------
creato
How does something like this really help? It seems like an automated phone
answering system for COVID testing. This seems like, maybe, 0.1% of the
problem we have in this country with dealing with this virus. I'm not saying
it's unhelpful, just that it doesn't seem all that helpful either. It seems
like a bunch of hot air from Trump and Google.

Also, isn't verily a bioscience company? I would expect them to be working on
testing, or treatments, or almost anything other than a website. This
drastically lowers my opinion of what I thought verily was, which admittedly,
I didn't know much, I just figured it would being doing something a little
more "hands on" here. Hopefully they're doing that too...

Also:

> Your data collected by Verily through the testing program will never be
> joined with your data stored in Google products without your explicit
> permission.

Who outside of even a subset of software engineers know what this means?

~~~
throwaway490194
Better data improves the probability of "flattening the curve" to avoid
overwhelming the health care system. Many lives can be saved if this can be
achieved. In Italy they failed to do this, ran out of ventilators, and people
are dying who would not otherwise be dying. For another example, google
"flattening the curve st louis vs philadelphia 1919 swine flu".

------
ModernMech
Why does it take 4 seconds to load each page? Is that just me?

~~~
spectramax
That's normal. We've bloated the javascript ecosystem so much that its
impossible to expect a fast loading page these days.

------
foogazi
That was quick

~~~
ludamad
Interestingly they don't mention anything past California as an ambition, was
this the idea Trump was talking about?

~~~
smsm42
There are two projects related to Google going on - one is this one, from
Verily, another is broader information website, led by Google. From TC[1]:

Google later clarified is that there are at least two different efforts here.
Google’s work around bringing more information about COVID-19 to its users
across its various services — and Verily’s efforts 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.”

I can not say which one Trump meant - and am not sure if he really goes into
the details beyond "we're working with Google folks on making information
available" \- the President usually doesn't do such things by himself, he
delegates - but I would assume he probably meant the other one. But maybe
both. Or maybe just Verily effort and extending it to broader reach. We'll
see.

[1] [https://techcrunch-
com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/techcrunch.com...](https://techcrunch-
com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/techcrunch.com/2020/03/15/trump-says-google-ceo-
sundar-pichai-called-to-apologize/amp/)

~~~
yskchu
> [https://techcrunch-
> com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/techcrunch.com...](https://techcrunch-
> com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/techcrunch.com/2020/03/15/trump-says-google-ceo-
> sundar-pichai-called-to-apologize/amp/)

Your AMP link is 404, here's the direct link:

[https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/15/trump-says-google-ceo-
sund...](https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/15/trump-says-google-ceo-sundar-
pichai-called-to-apologize)

------
creeble
Santa Clara and San Mateo counties? Where google has the most employees?

Not a hot county like Solano?

Hmm. Wonder why that is.

~~~
kpozin
Bay Area counties, as of 2020-03-15:

    
    
       Alameda County: 15 cases
       Contra Costa County: 29 cases
       Marin County: 5 cases
       Napa County: 0 reported cases
       San Francisco County: 37 cases
       San Mateo County: 32 cases, 1 death
       Santa Clara County: 114 cases, 2 deaths
       Solano County: 6 cases
       Sonoma County: 5 cases
    

[https://abc7news.com/health/coronavirus-updated-number-of-
co...](https://abc7news.com/health/coronavirus-updated-number-of-
covid-19-cases-deaths-in-bay-area/6008027/)

~~~
creeble
Yes, this makes it obvious.

