The 2020 Census Bureau was tasked with shifting the Census to a more digital version in hopes to get a more accurate count of nearly 330 million Americans.
But the coronavirus had other plans.
The almost decade long planning of getting as many Americans to respond via mail, phone, or the census website has gone well by most counts. But with the virus limiting travel and person to person contact it has made it increasingly hard for the Bureau to reach people who have yet to reply or areas of pollution that are difficult to reach.
Currently 38 percent of households have responded online- which is in line of what the bureau’s projections were. So why are we worried? Getting (fair) political representation and billions in federal funds rides on the result of the census. That is why it is vital we get an accurate count, in all areas. While online respondents have been working, other methods are lagging as a result of the virus. According to the NY Times, the nationwide count of Americas homeless has been postponed, mailed in census processing has slowed due to the bureau limiting staff at regional centers, and social distancing is causing the bureau’s call center to decrease staff, impacting those who have questions or are looking to complete the census via phone.
Another issue coronavirus has brought to light is with universities switching to online classes, most college students have left campus and returned to their hometowns. The key issue here is students are to be counted where they live (sleep) most often. The bureau is asking that schools get in contact with students and ask that they respond accordingly.
Terri Ann Lowenthal, a census expert and consultant explained, “A successful census is one that counts all communities equally well,” she said. “With the challenges the coronavirus is presenting, I’m worried about the consistency of census operations and level of effort across states and communities. “And that is a fundamental factor in evaluating not only whether the census is acceptably accurate — but whether it is fair.”
In response to the ongoing pandemic and spread of the virus, the self-response deadline has been extended to August 14, 2020. However, for those who have still yet to respond by May 13th, census takers will be following up.
Census officials are also placing extra emphasis on filing online. “Everyone should respond to the 2020 Census as soon as they receive their invitation, and when they’re finished, they can make sure their friends, families and social networks know about the importance of responding,” said Frances Alonzo, a public information officer for the census count. Respondents can do so via mail, phone, desktop computer, laptop, smartphone or tablet.
Here at Extract Systems we utilize and build on technology to safeguard information to allow employees and be freed from manual and repetitive workflow tasks. Our automated redaction software uses machine learning techniques to read your documents like a human would, and find the information you need redacted.If you’d like to learn more about our offerings here at Extract, please reach out today.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/article/census-2020.html
The-Health-Crisis-Has-Complicated-the-Ongoing-US-Census.html
https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2020/statement-coronavirus.html
About the Author: Taylor Genter Taylor is the Marketing Specialist at Extract with experience in data analytics, graphic design, and both digital and social media marketing. She earned her Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing at the University of Wisconsin- Whitewater. Taylor enjoys analyzing people’s behaviors and attitudes to find out what motivates them, and then curating better ways to communicate with them.