The U.S. Census Bureau announced last week it is suspending field operations nationwide until April 1 in accordance with local and national recommendations of social distancing, and has extended the deadline to respond to the census to Aug 14.
This global pandemic has changed pretty much everything about how the census must operate in Jefferson County, Jeannie McMaken, Jefferson County 2020 Census Project Manager, said.
April 1 is census day, when it is hoped the majority of Jefferson County residents will count themselves either online, by mail or phone.
Before the onset of widespread shutdowns related to the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous events and public interactions were meant to inform the public about the Census and increase the response rate.
This has led the Jefferson County Census office to become creative with how they get the word out.
In the coming days, every Jefferson County address will receive a postcard with instructions about how to be counted.
“Just fill it out,” McMaken said. “It took me four minutes, and it’s really important for our county.”
After April 1, part of the Census is determining who has not responded and then having a census worker physically knock on people’s doors to get a response.
This is scheduled to happen from May to August, but McMaken said she has not heard whether they are going to cancel the door-belling nationwide, which is a decision that would be made at the bureau in Washington D.C.
She said she hopes instead the work she’s done up to now will get more responses on census day so that fewer people have to knock on doors.
To respond to the census go to www.2020census.gov or call 844-330-2020.
