Trump Administration Asks Tech Companies for Help Combating Coronavirus

[MacRumors]

The White House on Wednesday asked tech companies to help fight coronavirus disinformation while also helping the government with its response to the growing outbreak, reports Politico.

The Trump Administration asked Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and IBM for help in a meeting that saw representatives from each of the companies speaking with White House officials and representatives from government agencies that include Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Labor Department, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services, and others.

Coordination efforts and information sharing were key topics during the meeting, with the White House urging tech companies to work together to remove harmful content. Companies have also been asked to use their "technical expertise" to help those "grappling with the fallout from the coronavirus," and to provide the government with any data that can help manage the spread of the virus.

The White House is working to release a database of research related to the coronavirus and wants tech companies to help medical researchers analyze it for insights with AI techniques.

"Cutting edge technology companies and major online platforms will play a critical role in this all-hands-on-deck effort," U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios, who convened he conference call, said in a statement afterward. "Today's meeting outlined an initial path forward and we intend to continue this important conversation."

In the United States, the coronavirus outbreak has led to the closure of schools, concerts, sporting events, and more, and today, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic.

Tech companies have already been working to combat false information about the coronavirus. Facebook and Twitter have disallowed coronavirus related ads, and Amazon has banned marked up health products like hand sanitizer and masks along with preventing companies from selling items related to the coronavirus.

Apple is rejecting coronavirus apps that aren't provided by health organizations and government institutions, and has launched a coronavirus hub with reliable news information in the Apple News app.

Apple and other tech companies are also having most of their employees work from home for the foreseeable future to cut down on the spread of the virus, and Apple is providing unlimited sick leave to hourly employees become sick with COVID-19.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Trump Administration Asks Tech Companies for Help Combating Coronavirus

 

[dannyyankou]

Yes, we don't want disinformation. Like the fact that it'll go away when it gets warm, or the mortality rate is way under 1%

 

[citysnaps]

Here's an excellent and well-written article about the power of exponential growth with respect to COVID-19, and why social distancing is the solution.

 

[eoblaed]

Oh, the irony.

 

[dogslobber]

Best thing to combat this virus is for Trump to resign.

 

[Analog Kid]

"Cutting edge technology companies" that have nothing to do with healthcare aren't the folks you need to be spending your time with-- seems more like a celebrity panel than a working group. Sure, preventing misinformation and the spread of panic is important, but unless there's a way of creating a software test for the virus it may have been a better use of time to brainstorm how Purell could better ramp up production to meet demand.

 

[genovelle]

So...wait...I thought Trump said it was a Hoax. Now it a serious problem. Odd

 

[smulji]

Coronavirus: Why You Must Act Now

Politicians and Business Leaders: What Should You Do and When?

medium.com

 

[LizKat]

Here's an excellent and well-written article about the power of exponential growth with respect to COVID-19, and why social distancing is the solution.

Right. Interesting that in a chart in there for March 5 and 6, Germany was just around 20%, so still quite short of the threshold for "double the cases every day" at the 40% mark, and yet today Angela Merkel said despite all efforts, Germany may well end up with 70% of its citizens having been infected. It's important for leaders to emphasize both the seriousness and yet also the simple and effective things one can do to minimize exposure of self and others. I'm happy they NY is taking it seriously and switching the SUNY/CUNY classes to online-only next week for rest of term. The students are mostly at the age less seriously affected by the illness but they are entirely capable if infected to shed the virus among the general population, so doing their classwork from home online is a better way during the course of the disease.

 

[McG2k1]

Awww and I bet you guys STILL want the government to run our healthcare. But I know it’ll be ok cause it’ll be your team running it. Zero scandal healthcare, just like China.
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So...wait...I thought Trump said it was a Hoax. Now it a serious problem. Odd

he said the story that they were doing nothing was a hoax, not that the virus was a hoax. He’s also downplayed the severity of the virus, but that may actually be true. No sneezing, aching, runny head or stuffed head, just a reoccurring 8 hour fever.

 

[jerryk]

Everyone in the administration needs to watch this until they get what happens in a Novel virus (not seen before in humans) with no vaccine makes it's way through a population. THIS IS NOT LIKE A FLU WITH VACCINES AVAILABLE.

 

[Macaholic868]

My wife is an RN at a local hospital in the suburbs on a general cardiopulmonary floor. We had to self quarantine Friday for 24 hours when she was informed she had been treating a patient in the same room as a patient from India who was admitted Thursday, took a turn for the worse Friday and was quarantined and tested by the county health department Friday evening. The results took slighlty more than 24 hours to get. Not only was she repeatedly in the same room as the potentially infected patient but she’d helped her coworker taking care of the patient to get the patient in question from a wheelchair into a bed. The results were negative but this is our new normal now.

The doctors and nurses at the hospital are resigned to the fact that they are going to get it, which means I’ll get it. At this point we just want to get on with it, get it, quarantine for two to three weeks and go back to our normal routines knowing we can’t spread it or get it again. Instead we will be dealing with many more precautionary self quarantines as mass hysteria unfolds around this thing in our state until we eventually get positive test result and have to be tested ourselves.

Here’s the bottom line. At worst a majority of the population will get it and patients above 60 with pre-existing cardiopulmonary issues need to be very concerned. If you are younger and have the same preexisting conditions you should be more concerned as well. The rest of us who wind up with it will either experience no symptoms at all or at worst it’ll be the same as having a cold or the flu.

A small percentage of the population will die and that’s unfortunate which is why we’re serious about self quarantining ASAP but the reality of the situation is that if the patient in question had tested positive we both would’ve been walking around infected from some point Thursday until 8 PM Friday. My co-wokers would’ve been exposed Friday as would my wife’s.

That’s the reality for healthcare workers and their families. We’re getting it and we likely will not know we have it for a period of 24 - 48 hours. We’ve already had the talk with our family that we won’t be around for in person events until things shake out and we’re both trying to limit our exposure to and distance from others. We’re using things like Instacart for groceries, having them leave everything outside our door before we bring them in, etc. It’s going to be our new normal for a few months and it is what it is.

 

[nutmac]

Isn't Trump a medical genius? From Washington Post but also reported in many other outlets:

"I like this stuff. I really get it,” Trump boasted to reporters during a tour of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, where he met with actual doctors and scientists who are feverishly scrambling to contain and combat the deadly illness. Citing a “great, super-genius uncle” who taught at MIT, Trump professed that it must run in the family genes.

“People are really surprised I understand this stuff,” he said. “Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ Maybe I have a natural ability.”

 

[jerryk]

My wife is an RN at a local hospital in the suburbs on a general cardiopulmonary floor. We had to self quarantine Friday for 24 hours when she was informed she had been treating a patient in the same room as a patient from India who was admitted Thursday, took a turn for the worse Friday and was quarantined and tested by the county health department Friday evening. The results took slighlty more than 24 hours to get. Not only was she repeatedly in the same room as the potentially infected patient but she’d helped her coworker taking care of the patient to get the patient in question from a wheelchair into a bed. The results were negative but this is our new normal now.

The doctors and nurses at the hospital are resigned to the fact that they are going to get it, which means I’ll get it. At this point we just want to get on with it, get it, quarantine for two to three weeks and go back to our normal routines knowing we can’t spread it or get it again. Instead we will be dealing with many more precautionary self quarantines as mass hysteria unfolds around this thing in our state until we eventually get positive test result and have to be tested ourselves.

Here’s the bottom line. At worst a majority of the population will get it and patients above 60 with pre-existing cardiopulmonary issues need to be very concerned. If you are younger and have the same preexisting conditions you should be more concerned as well. The rest of us who wind up with it will either experience no symptoms at all or at worst it’ll be the same as having a cold or the flu.

A small percentage of the population will die and that’s unfortunate which is why we’re serious about self quarantining ASAP but the reality of the situation is that if the patient in question had tested positive we both would’ve been walking around infected from some point Thursday until 8 PM Friday. My co-wokers would’ve been exposed Friday as would my wife’s.

That’s the reality for healthcare workers and their families. We’re getting it and we likely will not know we have it for a period of 24 - 48 hours. We’ve already had the talk with our family that we won’t be around for in person events until things shake out and we’re both trying to limit our exposure to and distance from others. We’re using things like Instacart for groceries, having them leave everything outside our door before we bring them in, etc. It’s going to be our new normal for a few months and it is what it is.

I hope everything works out for you and your wife. She is an angel on the front lines. And you both are wonderful for doing what you can to slow the spread.

 

[pweicks]

Best thing to combat this virus is for Trump to resign.

Right, and it was the democrats that demanded 8 billion to combat the virus. Now that they’ve had that money secured through legislation, you’d think they’d all be hard at work collaborating on how to best spend it and help with the problem. Instead they all ended up going on vacation the following week. Says everything ya need to know about the liberal party.

 

[LizKat]

Awww and I bet you guys STILL want the government to run our healthcare. But I know it’ll be ok cause it’ll be your team running it. Zero scandal healthcare, just like China.
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he said the story that they were doing nothing was a hoax, not that the virus was a hoax. He’s also downplayed the severity of the virus, but that may actually be true. No sneezing, aching, runny head or stuffed head, just a reoccurring 8 hour fever.

The mild reaction some experience is part of why voluntary mitigation efforts are important. Asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic carriers may otherwise mingle in general population to detriment of people for whom the virus is more dangerous or lethal.

The biggest problem with people who do get very sick is that they can't recover without hospitalization, they get a deep bilateral pneumonia and need artificial ventilation. Hospitals only have so many ventilators, etc.

So all in all it's quite irresponsible to make it sound like this coronavirus is like a common flu virus, especially since unlike flu and certain pneumonias, there is no vaccine for covid-19 yet.

 

[hagjohn]

Awww and I bet you guys STILL want the government to run our healthcare. But I know it’ll be ok cause it’ll be your team running it. Zero scandal healthcare, just like China.
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he said the story that they were doing nothing was a hoax, not that the virus was a hoax. He’s also downplayed the severity of the virus, but that may actually be true. No sneezing, aching, runny head or stuffed head, just a reoccurring 8 hour fever.

Sorry, but that is not accurate.

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) – Symptoms

Symptoms of COVID-19 include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Call your doctor if you develop symptoms.

www.cdc.gov

 

[pweicks]

So...wait...I thought Trump said it was a Hoax. Now it a serious problem. Odd

I’ve never heard him call it a hoax. But I think you could refer to the media coverage of it all as a hoax. Everything has been strictly negative coverage on the whole thing. I have yet to see a major news outlet point out the fact that more people have now recovered from it than people who are currently infected by it. Also that it’s largely only affecting elderly. Also that there is less than a 2% chance of being killed by it IF you even get infected by it in the first place. And if ya wanna start blaming everything on whoever the president is, let’s not forget that under Obama, 22 million Americans were infected with swine flu (H1N1) and 4000 ended up dying from it. Last I heard, the US has had 38 fatalities from the coronavirus. Trump is great! Nobody can resist opening their mouths and blurting out the first irrational thought that pops into their mind when he’s the one in office. Nobody can keep their mouths shut. There were so many fence sitters in this country under previous presidents. Not anymore. Everyone is showing their true colors and where their values really stand. I think it’s great!

 

[Jimmy James]

I thought Trump had it licked.

 

[arian19]

The doctors and nurses at the hospital are resigned to the fact that they are going to get it, which means I’ll get it. At this point we just want to get on with it, get it, quarantine for two to three weeks and go back to our normal routines knowing we can’t spread it or get it again. Instead we will be dealing with many more precautionary self quarantines as mass hysteria unfolds around this thing in our state until we eventually get positive test result and have to be tested ourselves.

Here’s the bottom line. At worst a majority of the population will get it and patients above 60 with pre-existing cardiopulmonary issues need to be very concerned. If you are younger and have the same preexisting conditions you should be more concerned as well. The rest of us who wind up with it will either experience no symptoms at all or at worst it’ll be the same as having a cold or the flu.

The thing to note is that yes you might be in a high likely situation to get it. However, (I know you didn't say this, but it's worth noting), it's important for others to practice social distancing. Because as you said a majority of the population will end up getting this virus, but by delaying the spread, it'll allow our health care system to not get as overwhelm. So there is a point to the madness.

Below you can see the area under the curve is basically the same. People don't understand that protective measure delay the spread of the virus, not prevent it. Which gives our healthcare system the ability to have enough beds and medical equipment like respirators, etc.. for the critically ill. Lots more will die if we overpopulate our hospitals. Delaying the viruses spread could be the difference between a critical patients getting a bed in hospital vs a make shift bed at a repurposed gymnasium.

https://imgur.com/YTCVXTI

 

[PickUrPoison]

Awww and I bet you guys STILL want the government to run our healthcare. But I know it’ll be ok cause it’ll be your team running it. Zero scandal healthcare, just like China.

Medicare works great. Just ask your parents or grandparents, or any person over the age of 65. It’s not a partisan program. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers support it. It’s not run by one “team” or the other. It’s run by both teams. And in any case, it’s not helpful to see everything through the filter of your “team”. Illness and disease affects everyone.

Don’t assume nothing works, just because this administration is incompetent at running the federal government. Medicare’s been around a long time, Trump hasn’t had time to screw it up (yet).

 

[Sasha-1]

talk to the CDC not Apple, Trump...

 

[PickUrPoison]

Twitter should deactivate accounts that spread propaganda and disinformation—starting with Trump himself. That would be a great start.

 

[DotCom2]

Medicare works great. Just ask your parents or grandparents, or any person over the age of 65. It’s not a partisan program. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers support it. It’s not run by one “team” or the other. It’s run by both teams. And in any case, it’s not helpful to see everything through the filter of your “team”. Illness and disease affects everyone.

Don’t assume nothing works, just because this administration is incompetent at running the federal government. Medicare’s been around a long time, Trump hasn’t had time to screw it up (yet).

Medicare only pays for 80% of medical costs. With medical costs being so high the other 20% can leave a person penniless unless they buy supplemental ins. which isn't cheap.

 

[Ghost31]

Awww and I bet you guys STILL want the government to run our healthcare. But I know it’ll be ok cause it’ll be your team running it. Zero scandal healthcare, just like China.
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he said the story that they were doing nothing was a hoax, not that the virus was a hoax. He’s also downplayed the severity of the virus, but that may actually be true. No sneezing, aching, runny head or stuffed head, just a reoccurring 8 hour fever.

“We want the government to run all healthcare!”

...

“God the government is killing people with their lack of preparedness. So inept”

agreed