President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have said they want to make it easier for Americans to figure out how to get tested for coronavirus if they are showing symptoms. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
Updated at 4 p.m. ET
The White House is set to give more details Sunday about how Americans can find out how to get tested for coronavirus, if they are showing symptoms of the respiratory illness it causes. A briefing is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET.
The Trump administration has been criticized for a lack of testing done across the country — testing that would reveal more about how widespread the virus has become. And President Trump has come under fire for saying that tests were widely available at a time when they were extremely limited.
"Anybody that wants a test can get a test. That's what the bottom line is," Trump said more than a week ago as he toured the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
Early on, there was a problem in test kits distributed to labs by the CDC. After that issue was fixed, the White House had said it was putting a priority on working with state, university and commercial labs to make it easier for anxious Americans to get tests.
On Friday, Trump and members of his Coronavirus Task Force said that they would soon unveil a website developed with Google that would help people figure out whether they should get tested, and if so, direct them to nearby drive-through test sites set up in public areas, like Walmart parking lots.
The approach is modeled after one used in South Korea, which as of this week was testing up to 15,000 people a day since its outbreak started, or 3,600 tests per million people, compared with five tests per million in the U.S.
But after the announcement, there were questions about whether the White House had overstated the readiness and the scope of the website. Google said its life sciences division, called Verily, was only in "the early stages" of rolling a website in California's Bay Area.
On Saturday, Vice President Mike Pence was questioned about the discrepancy.
"We'll have a very specific description tomorrow about when the website will be available, when the parking lot sites will be available for people to be tested," he said Saturday. "And we're working right now with state and local communities to determine where it's best to roll those out as a number of — a number of communities are already doing a great job meeting their needs."
By Saturday night, Google had another statement on Twitter, saying it was "partnering" with the government on a "nationwide website" with information about symptoms, risks and testing information.
“We are fully aligned and continue to work with the US Government to contain the spread of COVID-19, inform citizens, and protect the health of our communities. (1/6) https://t.co/eI1uXra6AB
— Google Communications (@Google_Comms) March 15, 2020
On Sunday, Verily published a statement saying it would launch its pilot for screening and testing in San Francisco's Bay Area on Monday — beginning with people who are at highest risk from the virus. "People who meet eligibility and requirements for testing will be directed to mobile testing sites based on capacity, where they will complete a nasal swab test. Once tested, individuals will be informed of their COVID-19 test results within a few days," the company said.
"The program is in its early stages, and we will take the time to assess operations at pilot sites in the Bay Area before rolling out to additional sites," the company said.
Ahead of the Sunday briefing, Trump lashed out on Twitter about the criticism over the mixed messages, falsely stating that reporters "never called Google" about the issue.
NPR's Bobby Allyn, Mara Liasson and Shannon Bond contributed to this story.
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