06/15/2020
If you haven't filled out the census yet, doing it NOW is a great idea. Info on "how to," even if you don't have an ID number, is at this link: https://www.sierraco.org/announcement/2020-census-information/
CENSUS STATUS:
The effort to count everyone in the United States is still chugging along slowly. After abruptly suspending field operations when the pandemic hit in March, the Census Bureau has been restarting activity in phases. As of last week, nearly all 248 field offices in the country were scheduled to have resumed operations.
A good chunk of the work is already done; at least 60 percent of U.S. households have completed a census form, which the government encouraged people to fill out digitally this year.
Census workers still need to track down and seek responses from those who didn't answer, and it's here where the coronavirus really starts to complicate things.
Normally workers knock on the doors of nonrespondents. But safety concerns have forced the bureau to delay those follow-ups until mid-August. The government has asked Congress to extend the deadline to complete the census results, which are used to distribute $1.5 trillion in federal funds.
In the meantime, most field offices are doing what work they can without close public contact. They're hiring new employees, updating address lists and leaving census packets on the front porches of homes without mail access.
The Census Bureau is also doing research on the pandemic. It's conducting an experimental weekly survey, which found last month that more than half of households with young children had lost income since the pandemic began.
Sierra County is working to get as many residents as possible counted in the 2020 Census. Funding for the next ten years hangs in the balance!
