Today is Census Day in the United States, and officials with the Census Bureau are urging everyone to complete their forms so an accurate count of the country’s population can be completed.
Officials say completing the forms are more important than ever because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced the Census Bureau to temporarily suspend field operations, where census workers go door to door to count people who haven’t submitted the forms.
“Given the current situation we have paused, suspended all of our field work,” Michael C. Cook, public information chief with the Census Bureau. “We’re listening to the national and well as the local health authorities to ensure that the Census Bureau doesn’t increase the spread of COVID-19.”
Cook said completing the census forms is easier than ever, and can be done online, by phone or by mail using the code including with a mailing that every address should have already received.
Cook made his remarks Wednesday during an interview on the “WDUN Morning Show with Bill Maine.”
The census, a once-a-decade count of the number of people living in the country, is required by Article I, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. Population data collected through the census is used to determine how many members each state is allowed in the U.S. House of Representatives.
But the data is also used by the federal government to determine where dollars are spent on things like roads, social services and Medicare and Medicaid.
“The 2020 census is the one of the foundations of our democracy,” Cook said. “We count the residential population once so the seats in the U.S. House of Representatives can be appropriated accurately and correctly. … We turn that information over to the president and Congress who use it over the next 10 years to influence how billions and billions of dollars flow down to local communities.”
Cook said personal information about individuals and their households is kept in strict confidence by law and is not released to anyone. Aggregate data is released without any personal information.
The virus's spread has forced the Census Bureau to suspend field operations for a month, from mid-March to mid-April, when the hiring process would be ramping up for up to 500,000 temporary census takers. The bureau also has delayed the start of counts for the homeless and people living in group quarters like college dorms and nursing homes and has pushed back the deadline for wrapping up the head count from the end of July to mid-August.
To help keep the count on track, Cook said paper questionnaires will be send in mid-April to households who have not yet responded.
