Postcards reminding Utahns to participate in the 2020 Census will be delivered to about 25 percent of households in Cache County starting this week.
CACHE COUNTY – About 25 percent of Cache County households are about to receive final reminders to participate in the 2020 Census.
Census spokesperson Coralys M. Ruiz Jimenez says those reminders, in the form of postcards, should start arriving in local mailboxes this week.
The brief message on the postcards states: “To protect the health of the public during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Census Bureau interviewers have had limited contact with the public until now.
“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.”
On a national level, those postcards are being sent to 34.3 million U.S. households.
“This will be the final mailing before Census takers begin visiting non-responding households across the nation in mid-August,” Ruiz Jimenez explains. “Responding now minimizes the need for Census takers to visit homes to collect responses in person.”
The once-a-decade headcount of American residents began in mid-May, shortly after the coronavirus outbreak. But the Census continued during the pandemic with responses to the 20-item personal questionnaire being collected online and via hard copies delivered and returned by mail.
As of July 22, Census officials report that the national rate of responses to the Census is 62.3 percent.
The statewide response rate for Utah, however, is 66.7 percent. At 73.8 percent, the response rate for Cache County ranks third highest among Utah’s 29 counties, exceeded only by 77 percent response rates in Davis and Morgan counties.
The Census response rates from most Cache County communities have also exceeded both the Utah and national response rates.
As of July 22, the Census response rate is 85.5 percent from Hyde Park, 83.4 percent from River Heights and 80.3 percent from Providence.
The response rates from Amalga, Nibley and Smithfield are all tied at 79 percent.
The response rates from other Cache County communities stand at 78.2 percent from Hyrum, 77.7 percent from Wellsville, 76.9 percent from North Logan, 76.7 percent from Lewiston, 74.5 from Richmond and 72.6 percent from Newton.
The response rates from Mendon, Logan, Trenton, Millville and Paradise are all tied at about 70 percent.
The only communities in Cache County not exceeding the Utah response rate are Cornish at 66.3 percent and Clarkston is 55.5 percent.