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Shares of Google parent Alphabet Inc <GOOGL.O>, Walmart Inc <WMT.N>,
Target Corp <TGT.N> and drugstore owner CVS Health Corp <CVS.N>
all closed up more than 9%, in line with the broad stock market,
though Alphabet dropped 2% after hours.
Pressure has been rising on U.S. officials to increase and
improve testing for the fast-spreading virus, which has reached
almost every U.S. state and infected more than 1,660 people in
the country.
"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.
"Google has 1,700 engineers working on this right now, made
tremendous progress."
An administration presentation showed a potential user would be
asked several questions on the website and then given a
recommendation as to whether they should get a coronavirus test.
Those requiring a test would be referred to a store that can
provide assistance, potentially including a drive-through test,
according to the administration's presentation. Results would be
available online in 24 to 36 hours.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said the website's launch date
would be known by Sunday night.
Verily, a healthcare tech company also owned by Alphabet, said
it was leading the effort to develop the web tool, with the help
of an undisclosed number of Google employees.
"We are in the early stages of development, and planning to roll
testing out in the (San Francisco) Bay Area, with the hope of
expanding more broadly over time," Verily spokeswoman Kathleen
Parkes said.
About 1,700 Google workers have volunteered to help with
coronavirus-related efforts, according to a person familiar with
the matter, but it is unclear whether all of them are involved
with developing the new website.
Carolyn Wang, another Verily spokeswoman, said it initially
aimed to assess testing needs for people more prone to catching
the virus, such as healthcare workers. But she said Verily now
plans to trial the system more broadly at several sites around
the San Francisco region.
Wang added that Verily was "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."
Quest Diagnostics Inc <DGX.N> and Laboratory Corp of America
Holdings <LH.N> did not respond to after-hours requests for
comment.
The Verily spokeswomen did not respond to questions on how data
submitted by website visitors would be protected and used.
Leading U.S. retailers will work with the government to assist
with drive-through coronavirus testing, the Retail Industry
Leaders Association said. Senior leaders of Walmart, Target,
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc <WBA.O> and CVS stood with Trump at
the announcement.
The tests will be conducted in retail store parking lots and
sent to labs to complete testing in partnership with local
health departments and diagnostic labs. The testing sites will
not be run by the companies.
FINDING A TEST
The cooperation with the Trump administration comes as Alphabet
faces several antitrust investigations from state and federal
agencies over its search and digital advertising businesses.
Trump has accused Google of skewing its search results to
portray him negatively. The company has also attracted the
administration's ire for not renewing a contract to provide its
artificial intelligence technologies for a military drone
program.
"Google cozying up to the government doesn't hurt," said Andre
Barlow, an antitrust expert with the law firm Doyle, Barlow and
Mazard. "Obviously there are a lot of factors that are weighed
in the antitrust investigation, which could go either way."
Trump also is eager to increase testing after efforts were
hampered by flawed kits distributed by the federal government in
February, which gave some false results.
(Reporting by Chris Sanders, Makini Brice and Diane Bartz in
Washington and Paresh Dave and Peter Henderson in San Francisco;
Additional reporting by Munsif Vengattil; Editing by Richard
Chang and Rosalba O'Brien)
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