It looks like Google's sister company Verily rushed out a half-finished coronavirus testing website after Trump botched the announcement
On Friday, President Trump claimed Google had 1,700 engineers working on a nationwide service to help coronavirus tests. This appeared to be wrong.
Google later clarified that its sister firm Verily was working on the project, which isn't yet nationwide
Here's how it works: Visitors to Verily's Project Baseline website are prompted to take a survey to see if they're eligible for COVID-19 testing
The website specifies that the site is only triaging people in Santa Clara and San Mateo in California.
There's one major privacy barrier — you have to create a Google account or connect your existing one to Project Baseline
Confusingly, it isn't clear how you're actually meant to connect your Google account to Project Baseline.
In its site FAQs, Google says: "We ask that you create a Google Account or connect your existing Google Account to participate in this program. This will enable us to collect your answers to the screening survey, contact you to schedule testing, and deliver results back to you. Your data collected by Verily through the testing program will never be joined with your data stored in Google products without your explicit permission."
Google might also share your data with third parties, but says it won't use your information for advertising.
On its site, Google says Verily personnel will have access to individuals' names, addresses, and phone numbers in order to schedule tests.
It also says: "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."
If you click into the survey, you are asked if you are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms
Confusingly, if you answer "yes," it says the testing program "is not the right fit"
If you answer "no," the website continues the survey and asks for your age
If you say you're under 18, the survey says you're ineligible for testing
If you say you're over 18, it asks if you live within 50 miles of the testing sites in Santa Clara County or San Mateo County, California
If you say "no,' it tells you you're ineligible for testing
If you answer "yes," you're told (as of Monday March 16) that no appointments can be scheduled
We've asked Verily for comment, but it certainly looks like its COVID-19 testing project isn't ready for primetime yet
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