The White House continued to provide contradictory information on Saturday about a website Google supposedly built to help people determine if and how to get a new coronavirus test.
Vice President Mike Pence said during a White House briefing that an update will be available on Sunday, March 15. “We will have a very specific description of when the website will be available, when the parking lots will be available for people to test,” Pence said in answer to a reporter’s question. “We are working with national and local communities to determine where to best deploy them.”
But later in the briefing, Pence was asked why Google said the site would be limited to the San Francisco Bay region. “They plan to launch a website this Monday, March 16, that would allow individuals to conduct risk assessments and be scheduled to test at test sites in the Bay Area, with the aim of expanding to other locations,” said Pence .
The goal is to set up a website very quickly for people in areas that are most affected, Pence added, including Washington, California, New York, Massachusetts, and Florida.
Google itself never said it would build a website, but instead a sister company within its parent company Alphabet – Verily – plans to build a pilot website just for the Bay Area. Given how complicated Alphabet’s corporate structure is, Pence may have simply referred to Verily’s website. We contacted Verily and Google for comment.
Speaking at a news conference on Friday declaring a state of emergency, President Trump said Google was developing a website “… it will be done very quickly, unlike websites from the past – to determine if a test is warranted and to facilitate testing in a convenient location nearby. ”He added,“ Google currently has 1,700 engineers working on it. They have made tremendous progress. ‘
That was news to Google, which said that a screening website from Verily, a separate division of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, was in the works, but could only direct people to test facilities in the Bay Area and a nationwide rollout was an ambition, not an absolute plan.
Carolyn Wang, communications leader for Verily, said The edge Friday evening that the “triage website” will do nothing but be able to direct people to ‘test sites’ for testing in the Bay Area, hoping to extend this ‘beyond time’ to beyond California.
During Saturday’s briefing, President Trump said he had taken a test for the coronavirus – although he previously said he didn’t think he needed one – and was waiting for the results. His temperature was “perfectly normal today,” he added. Reporters in the briefing room said that their temperatures had been taken before Trump and the rest of the working group entered the briefing room.
He was wearing a “USA” baseball cap and was asked why he decided to shake hands with some business leaders who accompanied him at a White House press conference on Friday to declare a state of national emergency. Health officials advise people to avoid such contact to avoid spreading the virus. He said it was a habit he picked up as a politician, adding that “keeping a good hand away is a good thing.”
Pence also announced on Saturday that the government plans to extend its travel restrictions to Ireland and the UK, starting at midnight Monday. President Trump previously announced that “most foreigners” who have been in 26 European countries will not be allowed to enter the US for 30 days. The latter ban doesn’t apply to U.S. citizens, but Trump said the White House was considering a domestic travel ban on some “ hot spots. ”