For 21 years, Google’s mission has been to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Helping people get the right information to stay healthy is more important than ever in the face of a global pandemic like COVID-19. Google is helping people stay safe, informed and connected.
1. Helping people find useful information
Google is partnering with the U.S. government in developing a website dedicated to COVID-19 education, prevention, and local resources nationwide. This includes best practices on prevention, links to authoritative information from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and helpful tips and tools from Google for individuals, teachers and businesses. Google will be rolling out an initial version of the website late Monday, March 16, and we’ll continue to enhance and update it with more resources on an ongoing basis.
Also, Google continue to help people find timely and useful information through our products, including Search, Maps and YouTube. Right now on the Google homepage the company is promoting the “Do the Five” campaign to raise awareness of simple measures people can take to slow the spread of the disease, according to the WHO. In the first 24 hours, these tips have already been seen by millions in the U.S. We’ve added more useful information to our COVID-19 SOS Alerts, including links to national health authority sites and a map of affected areas from the WHO.
2. Protecting people from misinformation
Promoting helpful information is only one part of Google responsibility. They are also removing COVID-19 misinformation on YouTube, Google Maps, Google developer platforms like Play, and across ads. On YouTube, the company have taken down thousands of videos related to dangerous or misleading coronavirus information, and they are continue removing videos that promote medically unproven methods to prevent coronavirus in place of seeking medical treatment. On Google Maps, their automated and manual review systems continue to take down false and harmful content such as fake reviews and misleading information about healthcare locations.
3. Enabling productivity for remote users and students
As more employers have asked workers to stay at home to help slow the spread of COVID-19, Google is seeing more people using the premium features of Meet, their video conferencing app, which Google made available to all G Suite customers at no cost until July 1, 2020. Google has also shared tips and resources for remote workers of all kinds.
4. Supporting relief efforts and government organizations
Through their philanthropic arm Google.org, the company is committing $50 million to the global COVID-19 response, focusing on health and science, access to educational resources and small business support.
5. Advancing health research and science
Alphabet’s Verily, which is focused on health and life sciences, is working in collaboration with California state, local and federal health authorities to help establish testing sites in the San Francisco Bay Area, and on an online tool to increase risk screening and testing for people at high risk of COVID-19. Californians will be able to take an online COVID-19 screener survey through Verily’s Project Baseline, and those who meet eligibility and requirements for testing will be directed to mobile testing sites based on capacity. While Verily is in the early stages of this pilot program, the plan is to expand to other locations over time.
6. Taking care of Google global community
Across all of this work, Google is focused on the impact the disease is having on our communities. That includes their own workforce. Last week, the company established a COVID-19 fund, which will allow all their temporary staff and vendors globally to take paid sick leave if they have potential symptoms of COVID-19 or can’t come into work because they’re quarantined. Google will continue to make sure their workforce is supported as this crisis evolves.
Source: Google news