Most potential solutions to the coronavirus crisis involve the addition of available and reliable testing. Now, a new website has launched which allows the general public, as well as doctors and first responders, to find the nearest testing facility throughout the U.S.

The site, called CareNearby.com, allows users to enter their zip code, and obtain a list of the nearest places to get a coronavirus test. The results list the facilities, as well as what users need to do to get a test there, including the eligibility requirements.

On the site, users can also sign up for email notifications about new testing centers near them, while testing centers can register for inclusion in the database. Around 1,500 testing sites are included at launch.

The site was created by a company called CareTech LLC. The cofounder is Dr. M. Bud Lateef, a surgeon based in Pennsylvania, who launched the site with backing from the private equity firm Limelight Capital, LLC. According to the website, CareNearby began as a more generalized healthcare website, but has "refocused it's technology team on finding COVID-19 related care in the interim."

“The COVID-19 outbreak has brought many unprecedented challenges. Although most people will not need testing, the ability to find testing sites for COVID-19 should not be a barrier when testing is needed.” Dr. Lateef said in a statement, “While COVID-19 continues to affect our fellow Americans, we wanted to help by utilizing our knowledge in healthcare and technology to provide the public an essential free service in time of need.”

The CareNearby site, at least in part, resembles an idea President Trump promised at a press briefing on March 13. The president said at the time that Google was working on a website that would "determine whether a test is warranted and to facilitate testing at a nearby convenient location."

Google’s communications department, later that day, clarified that a subsidiary of its parent company Alphabet, called Verily, was in early stages of developing a site, with plans to "roll testing out in the Bay Area, with the hope of expanding more broadly over time." Google's CEO said in a blog post two days later that it would develop an overall coronavirus site.

Google did eventually launch a COVID-19 site, which mostly provides an overview of information and links to the CDC and state-by-state resources. There's also some data, and a button to donate to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. But the site does not include the sort of easy search for localized testing sites that are available on CareNearby.

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons.