US Census enumerators may be knocking
on your door to help you fill out
your Census form of 10 questions.
They can be identified with
an ID card (right).
They will not ask
about your
immigration
status.
Remember the Census? Along with the Presidential election this November, it was suppose to be one of the big stories of 2020.
The pandemic and Donald Trump's inaction have changed that prediction with the coronavirus dominating the news.
The bureau began its soft launch of non-response follow-up on Monday, sending 10,000 enumerators out to areas that include New Orleans, Oklahoma City and Kansas City, Missouri.
The second wave of enumerators began knocking on doors July 23 in the following areas:
- Crystal City, Virginia,
- Hartford, Connecticut,
- State College Pennsylvania,
- Evansville, Indiana,
- Wichita, Kansas,
- Tacoma, Washington
Nearly 62% of households have filled out the 2020 Census — exceeding the bureau’s goal of 60.5% — and about 80% of responses were completed online.
The Census Bureau has launched a “final-push campaign” that reminds households to self-respond before enumerators begin going door-to-door nationwide in August.
The US Census is making an effort to count Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, a group that historically been difficult to tally.
The bureau no longer actively recruits for more applicants, but Olson said it has 3 million applicants available for consideration and receives about 1,500 new applications every day on its online job portal.
The bureau expects to hire as many as 500,000 enumerators, and is urging applicants to complete the fingerprinting and background checks in time for training that begins nationwide July 31.
Given pandemic conditions, Olson said enumerators will follow social distancing practices when knocking on doors.
“They would knock, they would ring a doorbell, and then they would maintain the minimum six-foot social distancing in the interaction with the person,” Olson said.
While the bureau in previous counts never explicitly prevented enumerators from entering someone’s residence when conducting a census interview, Olson said the bureau now prohibits its temporary workers from doing so.
The bureau has also stocked up on personal protective equipment kits for enumerators, having purchased more than 2 million masks, 14 million gloves and a million disinfecting wipes, as well as 48,000 gallons of hand sanitizer.
Besides its own PSA's, local community groups have created their out outreach videos, like this one from Georgia.
Under normal conditions, the bureau allows 12 weeks to complete non-response follow-up across the country, but under the pandemic, enumerators will complete that work in six-to-seven weeks.
“That gives us an incredible amount of flexibility — that if there are areas, geographies where we cannot begin, as our plan is, on Aug. 11, we could then open them up a little bit later,” Olson said.
Area census offices that complete their work before fieldwork ends on Oct. 31 could also send their enumerators to help nearby areas that have not yet been completed.
“That gives us an incredible amount of flexibility — that if there are areas, geographies where we cannot begin, as our plan is, on Aug. 11, we could then open them up a little bit later,” Olson said.
Area census offices that complete their work before fieldwork ends on Oct. 31 could also send their enumerators to help nearby areas that have not yet been completed.
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