The world is shocked by the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, but that doesn’t mean it stopped, especially for the tech industry. We were curious so we did a little research to find out what tech giants are doing to help fight COVID-19.
1. Google
Google took a number of initiatives to help NGOs, medical institutions and the WHO. You can read the full article and see if you fit the business profiles. Another great news is that they are donating “$340 million in Google Ads credits available to all SMBs with active accounts over the past year. Credit notifications will appear in their Google Ads accounts and can be used at any point until the end of 2020 across our advertising platforms.” This is done just to help businesses stay active and still reach out to their customers.
2. Tesla
What is Tesla doing should be easily explained in this tweet by Elon Musk:
We have extra FDA-approved ventilators. Will ship to hospitals worldwide within Tesla delivery regions. Device & shipping cost are free. Only requirement is that the vents are needed immediately for patients, not stored in a warehouse. Please me or @Tesla know.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 31, 2020
3. Amazon
Amazon is helping fight the Corona pandemic outbreak, by reducing physical contact through its delivery services and via cashier-less stores. Besides this, Amazon is giving $20 million to help accelerate the research and development of the faster COVID-19 test. You can read more about this here.
4. Apple
During the Covid-19 pandemic Apple has donated $15 millions to help the treatment of the sick and to ease the economic impact of the crisis. They are also donating millions of masks to health workers in the U.S. and Europe.
The amazing thing is that Siri can now help you figure out whether you are suffering from Covid-19. When you ask the question: “Do I have coronavirus?” she asks a series of questions to help you find out..
5. Microsoft
Guys at Microsoft are doing their part also. The company donated $1 million to Puget Sound’s COVID-19 Response Fund. They are also helping their hourly-workers – the 4,500 hourly employees who work in the facilities will continue to receive their regular wages even if their work hours are reduced. Similar to Apple, Microsoft has a Healthcare Bot service that can help you detect early symptoms and prevent health systems from being overwhelmed.
We are glad to see these tech giants show up and contribute when it is more than needed. We will post about small businesses helping their communities in one of our next blog posts! Stay tuned.