President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, Friday, March 13, 2020, in Washington.
- President Donald Trump announced Friday that his administration is rolling out a new online screening platform for coronavirus.
- Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House's coronavirus response coordinator, described the platform as a system where users can enter their symptoms into an online questionnaire to see if they need to be tested for the virus.
- The site can also point users to the closest drive-thru testing location before delivering results in 24-36 hours after the test.
- The announcement came after widespread frustrations with the scarce amount of tests available across the country.
- As the site would only recommend testing for users who input certain symptoms or risk factors, Trump repeatedly discouraged those who weren't ordered to take a test from doing so.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
President Donald Trump announced that his administration will roll out a diagnostic platform for those who are concerned about their symptoms or risk factors related to coronavirus.
The site was described at a Friday afternoon press conference by the recently appointed White House coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx, who said it is designed for users to input their symptoms into an online questionnaire to see if they need to be tested for the virus.
If the system identifies symptoms or risk factors associated with the virus, it will also tell patients their options for the closest "drive-thru" test they can take. From there, labs would process the data with "high throughput" automated machines to provide results in 24-36 hours, Birx said.
Screenshot via White House/YouTube
Birx, who is known for her role in the government response to the HIV-AIDS crisis, said the administration had "seen this approach work" and wanted to make it available to all Americans. She did not elaborate on what information users would specifically put into the site.
LabCorps and Quest were among the private partners charged by the president to develop a plan to expand testing before they responded with the testing model in 72 hours, Birx said. Trump later added that other private partners like Walmart, Target, and CVS were looking into putting their massive amounts of parking lot space to use hosting drive-thru testing.
The press conference came days after Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the lack of tests available to Americans is a "failing."
Drive-thru testing has already been set up in cities close to centers of the outbreak like Seattle and Denver, but the model is ripe for expansion as it allows potential patients to be tested within a matter of minutes without the risk of spreading the infection to others.
Patients in Colorado qualify for free coronavirus testing if they've shown symptoms, if they've recently traveled to high-risk areas, or if they've been in close contact with someone who tested positive, a state health department representative previously told Business Insider.
Birx did not specify any cost associated with the online platform and the test. Meanwhile, Trump repeatedly discouraged anyone from seeking tests for the virus if they aren't showing symptoms.
"We don't want people to take a test if we feel that they shouldn't be doing it," Trump said. "And we don't want everybody running out and taking [it,] only if you have certain symptoms."
Trump held the afternoon press conference to announce that he was declaring a national emergency that would free up $50 billion of federal funding to aid in responding to the virus by providing support with additional tests, medical facilities, and other supplies.
The virus has so far sickened more than 128,000 people and killed more than 4,700 globally, including over 40 in the US and 1,800 coronavirus cases across at least 47 states and Washington, DC as of March 13.
Get the latest Google stock price here.