Mar 21, 2020 3 min read

The federal agency overseeing the 2020 Census is pushing back deadlines for portions of its process that involve contact with the public because of the respiratory disease that’s prompted closures of schools and businesses throughout Pennsylvania and much of the country.

U.S. Census Bureau officials spoke with reporters on Friday, outlining changes to the previous timeline and other measures the agency was taking to help slow the transmission of COVID-19.

The bureau suspended field operations until April 1 to protect census workers and the public. The bureau said it was taking steps to protect workers at two of its major facilities, the National Processing Center and Paper Data Capture Center East, both in Jeffersonville, Ind. Those centers will transition to minimal on-site staffing.

Most of the affected work hasn’t started yet. Most households nationwide received invitations and instructions to complete surveys online, by phone or through the mail this month.

“Remember, the majority of our field work will not have begun by April 1,” said Albert Fontenot Jr., associate director for decennial census programs. “We are encouraging everyone to respond online, by phone or through the mail as soon as you receive your census invitation.”

Fontenot said the agency is working with colleges and universities to make sure students who have been temporarily sent home or sent away from the normal campus living situation know how to be counted. Similarly, officials were speaking to nursing homes and similar facilities to make sure people living there are counted, as well as working with shelters, mobile food vans and other providers of services for people are homeless to count the population those entities serve.

Dates for much of the field work involved have been pushed back by two weeks, with officials saying they’re monitoring conditions in case they need to make further adjustments.

Timothy Olson, associate director for field operations, said operations to count those living in group housing and people who are homeless were supposed to begin in late March and early April. They’ve been postponed until mid- or late April at earliest.

The recruiting website will remain open despite the stoppage on field operations, but the agency did pause all hiring and on-boarding of new employees until the beginning of next month at earliest. He encouraged those interested in temporary positions to continue applying.

The deadline for households to complete self-response questionnaires was supposed to end on July 31, but will now remain open until Aug. 14.

Olson said a policy is in effect for people in regional offices and centers to work remotely.

The work of following up with non-responsive households was supposed to begin on May 13, but is now set to begin on May 28. Officials stressed that households can respond online, over the phone or by mail.

Fontenot said the coronavirus outbreak shows why the accuracy of census data – which affect the distribution of federal funding to state and local governments – is so important.

“Even though many things seem uncertain at the moment, one thing isn’t,” he said. “Census results are used to inform planning and funding for hospitals and clinics and emergency preparedness, even school lunch programs. In order to get those resources communities desperately need, when we plan a census, we plan all sorts of contingencies.”