Communications of the ACM
Big Tech Zeros In on the Virus-Testing Market
Google's sister company, Verity Life Sciences, is introducing a health screening and analytics service for businesses trying to safely reopen during the pandemic.
Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Verily Life Sciences, a sister company of Google, scrambled to introduce a free coronavirus-screening site for the public and set up testing locations in March after President Trump made an off-the-cuff announcement about the program. It had a rocky start, but has since helped more than 220,000 people get tested in 13 states.
Now, the company has its sights set on employers. It is introducing a health screening and analytics service for businesses trying to safely reopen during the pandemic.
The service, announced on Thursday, will offer Covid-19 diagnostic testing for employees and clear them to return to the workplace based on their test results and other health data. It will also make recommendations to employers on how often workers should be retested, based on the prevalence of the virus in their work force and the local community.
"Employers are really focusing on how to ensure that they are not the source of another outbreak," said Dr. Vivian Lee, the president of health platforms at Verily, a unit of Google's parent company, Alphabet. "And that they do not wind up in a situation where they're putting the safety of their employees at risk when they need to be back in an office or a workplace setting."
From The New York Times
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