2020 Census faces ‘new challenge’ amid pandemic
Bureau may be forced to ‘modify its operations’
WASHINGTON – As census officials prepare to hire thousands of workers and send them out to count the nation’s population, experts and lawmakers worry about the impact of the coronavirus on the agency’s workforce, its operations and the accuracy of the count from college campuses to nursing homes.
“There’s no question that the coronavirus crisis has created an unexpected and significant new challenge to conducting a successful census on time in all communities,’’ said Terri Ann Lowenthal, a census expert. “No one knows exactly how this health crisis will affect census operations, but based on what we’ve seen so far in various communities around the country, it’s likely that the Census Bureau will have to modify some of its operations.”
While the 2020 census has begun in remote communities in Alaska, much of the count is about to kickoff as households begin last week to get invitations to respond to the census online or by phone. The spread of the coronavirus comes as census operations are scheduled to reach their peak in upcoming weeks.
Census officials, who said they have a nearly $2 billion contingency fund, have set up a task force to monitor the outbreak and plan to follow guidelines set by health officials to respond and train its workers.
“We’re very well equipped to have a quick response team,’’ Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told congressional lawmakers this week. “We’ve done as much as we can to be ready for whatever contingencies come up whether coronavirus, whether weather, whether whatever.’’
Census officials are urging people to respond online when they receive invitations. They’re also working with community partners to conduct more meetings by teleconference instead of in person.
If needed, census officials said, they will move staff from offices in affected areas and mail surveys and reminders to those communities.
Democratic lawmakers, already concerned that some communities, particularly communities of color, may be undercounted, are questioning whether the agency has an effective contingency plan.
Rep. Grace Meng, a Democrat from New York, said she plans to ask Census Bureau Director Steven Dillingham at a House Commerce, Justice and Science subcommittee hearing this month about a plan to protect census takers.
Meng is part of the TriCaucus, the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which has been pushing the census to target communities that have long been under counted.
“There are no do-overs, and a mistake will be a 10-year mistake,” Meng said.
Senate Democrats, led by Tina Smith from Minnesota, wrote a letter last week to the agency asking how it will deal with the coronavirus. The offices are scheduling a meeting.
On Wednesday, Smith said there’s already concern about undercounting communities of color, poor people and tribal communities and “then you layer on top of that worries about census takers going to doors.’’
“We’re asking the Census Bureau for their contingency planning on this to make sure that we don’t magnify the under counting in any way because of this virus,” she said.
Ross told lawmakers the bureau has moved to rely mostly on online responses, which don’t involve physical contact. He said households can also respond by phone and mail.
“If you do, there will be no need for census takers to knock on your door,” he said in a statement Saturday. He said more than 2 million households had already responded online.
The population survey, which is conducted every 10 years, is key to apportioning congressional districts and determining the distribution of billions in federal funds for schools, infrastructure and health systems.
Civil rights groups called for the Census Bureau to consider extending the July 31 deadline to respond. They said communities of color may be under counted - particularly if workers can’t reach them.
“We are already in danger of undercounting communities of color and other hard-to-reach populations,” said Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League.
Ross said this weekend the deadline hasn’t been changed, “but that can and will be adjusted if necessary as the situation dictates in order to achieve a complete and accurate count.”
Census officials have set up a task force to monitor the outbreak and plan to follow guidelines set by health officials to respond and train its workers.