Census packets delayed by COVID-19, responses still expected

While many events have been postponed or cancelled in response to the spread of COVID-19, in Alaska and across the world, Economic Development Director Carol Rushmore said that a high response rate to the 2020 census is still important.

Rushmore, who also serves on Wrangell's census committee, explained in previous meetings that census does much more than help government officials count people. Information provided by the census helps determine how federal and state funding is divided up for many programs, including social services, medicare, and grants. Getting an accurate count on the census is important to determine how much assistance an area realistically could require. Concerns about spreading COVID-19, however, have led to some hiccups in plans to encourage local turnout.

"This week homes were going to start receiving the census packets," Rushmore said, explaining that the delivery of these packets has been delayed.

The census packets, which were going to be delivered to peoples' homes, would have contained a 12-digit ID number that would let people start filling out their census questionnaire. Despite the delay and delivering these packets, Rushmore said that people can still respond to the census.

People can call 1-844-330-2020, or visit http://www.my2020census.gov to fill out the census without their unique ID number. Rushmore said that people will be asked to provide their address in the questionnaire, or to describe the location or their home as much as possible.

"It's really, really important to get the information out so we have a good response," she said.

The official census day is April 1, but Rushmore said people can start responding to the census right now. Census workers will begin going door-to-door to get responses sometime in May, she said, and the census will officially close on July 31. The sooner people respond, she said, the better.

 

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