Asking Siri about the coronavirus COVID-19 now pulls up interactive questionnaire and answers sourced from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United States Public Health Service, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services.
According to CNBC, asking Siri variations of “Do I have coronavirus?” brings a series of questions designed to determine whether the user may have contracted the virus.
In case Siri determines that you may be having some symptoms related to COVID-19, she might recommend either calling 911 for assistance or staying at home and social distancing.
Users first started noticing the change on Saturday.
Apple released a COVID-19 symptom triage tool within Siri. Ask “how do I know if I have coronavirus?” and it’ll walk you through a CDC-approved flow.
This is what voice assistants should be for.
— Alexis Córdova (@acordova) March 21, 2020
The service is currently intended for people in the United States.
It also works on Siri on HomePod. The Loop’s Dave Mark has discovered that a asking Siri whether you have the “Chinese virus” will prompt the assistant to correct you.
However, people who don’t live in the United States may be able to get the same information by changing their Siri language or their device’s regional settings to English (United States). Aside from official answers, Siri’s replies may include a link to telehealth apps on the App Store.
You may even receive virtual consultation.
As part of efforts to help fight the coronavirus, Apple’s released a video explaining what social distancing is, created by the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
The same video is available in iTunes and on Apple Music.
Have you seen Siri’s COVID-19-related replies yet?