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# 1,700 Google Engineers, and One of the Early BS Claims
- URL: https://birchtree.me/blog/1700-google-engineers-and-one-of-the-early-bs-claims/
- Published: 2020-11-03T02:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2020-11-03T02:30:00.000Z
- Author: Matt Birchler
- Tags: covid-19, #Import 2023-06-01 22:41, #Import 2025-03-29 19:29

[Verily’s COVID Testing Program Halted in San Francisco and Oakland | Kaiser Health News](https://khn.org/news/verilys-covid-testing-program-halted-in-san-francisco-and-oakland/?ref=birchtree.me)

> Problems emerged almost immediately, she said. People were suspicious of the requirement that they sign up with a Gmail account, and the request for personal information, such as health status and risk factors. “You don’t necessarily want to share that with Google,” Aboelata said.

[Flash back to March 14:](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/14/us/politics/trump-google-coronavirus.html?ref=birchtree.me)

> On Friday, President Trump inflated the concept far beyond reality. At a news conference in the Rose Garden, he said that the company was helping to develop a website that would sharply expand testing for the virus, falsely claiming that “Google has 1,700 engineers working on this right now” and adding that “they’ve made tremendous progress.”

I’m starting to wonder if this guy is a reliable source for this stuff.