Alphabet-owned health service company Verily has launched its COVID-19 screening site that was misrepresented by President Donald Trump as a broadly focused web-based Coronavirus screening and testing tool developed by Google but after a series of posts by both Google and Verily it was cleared that the screening and testing site was a Verily project, limited in scope to California residents, with a specific focus on a couple of counties for now.
The new site is hosted at Verity’s Project Baseline, which until now has acted as a portal connecting potential participants with medical research studies that currently offer services to the residents of Santa Clara County and San Mateo County.
To use this service the users (as per the website):
- Must be located in the given locations
- Must be 18 or older
- Must be a resident of the United States
- Must be able to speak and read English
- Must be willing to sign a COVID-19 Public Health authorization form
The form requires a user to login to an existing Google account or create a new Google account, the form also allows Verity to collect a person’s information to be used for the screening process.
The company specifically says that it will not share any info with any insurance or medical providers without direct consent, and that any information shared through the COVID-19 screening process will not be used for advertising.
According to the blog posted on Verily’s website the company could expand the presence of the tool to additional parts of the Bay Area and the State of California.
