Due to coronavirus concerns, in-person visits by Census takers like this one have been delayed while the U.S. Census Bureau attempts to boost the response rate to its national headcount via other means.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Census Bureau is pulling out all the stops to avoid making in-person visits to households that have not yet responded to its seemingly stalled once-a-decade national headcount.
In late July, the Census sent postcard reminders to more than 30 million U.S. households, according to spokesperson Coralys M. Ruiz Jimenez, including more than 25 percent of Cache County households.
The brief message on those postcards stated: “Interviewers will begin visiting homes that have not responded (to the 2020 Census) in August. Respond today, and we will not need to send an interviewer to your door to collect your answers.”
Despite that effort, the national response rate to the Census has increased by only one percentage point, from 62 to 63 percent, since July 22.
Due to concerns about the potential of in-person visits spreading the coronavirus, however, Census officials have now announced other measures that will be taken prior to the start of that door-to-door effort.
Non-responding households can still complete the 2020 Census questionnaire online or by mail, according to Dr. Steven Dillingham, the Census director. In the next few days, the Census Bureau will begin issuing additional reminders to U.S. residents by both phone and mail.
Ruiz Jimenez explained that the Census now has a strong contact list of both landline and cellphone numbers assigned to non-responding households and is training its employees to assist residents in completing the Census questionnaire over the phone for the first time.
If voicemail is available, the census takers will leave messages asking members of the non-responding household to call one of the Census Bureau’s call centers.
The Census Bureau also intends to send additional paper copies of the national questionnaire to non-responding households starting in late August.
Approximately 20 million non-responding households will also be contacted via E-mail, using contact information obtained from the national rolls of the Women, Infants and Children (WIC), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs.
In another unprecedented step, the Census Bureau recently announced that it has launched a mobile questionnaire assistance program that will help residents to respond at high-traffic locations such as grocery stores and pharmacies in low-responding communities.
Additionally, the Census Bureau has expanded its paid advertising, launching a series of new advertisements aimed at increasing online response to the national questionnaire.
The Census headcount effort seems equally stalled at here in Utah, where the statewide response rate has increased by only one percent to 67.8 percent in the past month. Closer to home, the Cache County response rate has inched up from 73.8 to 75 percent.
While the Census response rates from most Cache County communities exceeds both the Utah and national response rates, none of them have increased by more than 2 percent in the past month.