Turns out Donald Trump was lying about that Google coronavirus website too
During his surreal press conference today, Donald Trump announced that Google was rolling out a nationwide triage website to help with the coronavirus crisis. As with so many other things that come out of Trump’s mouth, it turns out this isn’t true – and Google itself just had to spell out what’s really going on.
Google’s official communications account posted this statement today:
Statement from Verily: "We are developing a tool to help triage individuals for Covid-19 testing. Verily is in the early stages of development, and planning to roll testing out in the Bay Area, with the hope of expanding more broadly over time.
— News from Google (@NewsFromGoogle) March 13, 2020
Google and Verily have the same parent company, so it’s not a big deal that Donald Trump said “Google” when it’s actually Verily. But this tweet makes clear that no nationwide website is being rolled out. Verily is in the “early stages of development” and is merely launching a beta-test site in its own backyard in the Bay Area. This effort by Google and Verily is to be applauded. But Trump straight up lied about it, which only sabotages efforts like this.
Bill Palmer is the publisher of the political news outlet Palmer Report