The coronavirus pandemic has had a huge impact on tech stocks like Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). The company has seen its retail stores shuttered, employees working from home, product launches forced to go online and supply chain disruption that threatens availability of key products. And even after a week of recovery, AAPL stock has taken a 21% hit since the novel coronavirus triggered a record market selloff.
In these trying times, Apple and other big tech companies are turning their resources and their platforms toward the coronavirus fight. One of the most useful things they’ve been able to do is to help by providing coronavirus screening tools. This helps relieve anxiety (how do I know if I have it?), takes some pressure off healthcare workers and reduces crowding at hospitals and doctors’ offices.
Here are four tech companies that are launching coronavirus screening tools.
Tech Stocks Combating the Coronavirus: Alphabet (GOOG)
Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google was the first of the big tech companies involved in the coronavirus fight.
The company was actually caught off guard when President Trump announced it was developing a nationwide coronavirus website with 1,700 engineers working on the project. That turned out to be partially true. In reality it was another Alphabet company — Verily — that had been working on the website. And it wasn’t quite ready for prime time.
However Google did subsequently confirm its involvement, tweeting that “Google is partnering with the US Government in developing a national website that includes information about COVID-19 symptoms, risk and testing information.”
The screening website soon went live on a limited basis (parts of San Francisco Bay only). The pilot has run into issues, including glitchy performance and questions over data privacy. It has a way to go before it’s the tool the President described.
In the meantime, Google has launched a COVID-19 portal. This website provides comprehensive information about the pandemic, including maps showing its spread, instructional videos, safety tips and symptoms.
Microsoft (MSFT)
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) has rolled out a live COVID-19 tracker dashboard for Bing. The dashboard uses data from trusted sources, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC). It shows live stats for confirmed cases, recoveries and fatalities by country, along with breaking coronavirus-related news stories.
The company also stepped up by using its AI-powered Healthcare Bot service to help the coronavirus screening process on the CDC’s website. Hospitals have also begun to employ the automated Healthcare Bot to deal with the volume of queries about coronavirus. MSFT reported on March 20 that its service was fielding over 1 million messages per day from people concerned about potential COVID-19 infections.
Amazon (AMZN)
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) has been in the thick of the coronavirus pandemic. Its website has been overwhelmed with orders from shoppers who don’t want to risk venturing into grocery stores. It has had to hire on massive scale to meet demand. The company is also dealing with strikes by warehouse workers over coronavirus risks.
AMZN is also leveraging its Amazon Web Services-powered Alexa voice assistant and massive install base of Amazon Echo smart speakers. Using official CDC information, Alexa is now able to help users worried about coronavirus. Alexa can answer questions related to COVID-19 symptoms and risk factors, as well as count down the recommended 20 seconds for hand-washing.
Apple (AAPL)
Working in partnership with the CDC, the White House and FEMA, Apple has released a COVD-19 screening tool.
The APPL tool offers a quick rundown of coronavirus info, including symptoms and risk factors. But it also offers a step-by-step assessment that helps users to determine whether they should be seeking medical treatment.
Siri — Apple’s voice assistant — has also been updated to provide coronavirus information. This includes a CDC-approved symptom triage tool that can direct those potentially infected with coronavirus to self-isolate, seek medical attention or even call 9-1-1 if reported symptoms are life-threatening.
Brad Moon has been writing for InvestorPlace.com since 2012. He also writes about stocks for Kiplinger and has been a senior contributor focusing on consumer technology for Forbes since 2015. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
