U.S. Census workers will start in-person visits to households that have not yet responded to the 2020 census. The first phase begins in six locations across the country. They include cities in Connecticut, Indiana, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington.
Census takers were supposed to head out in mid-March and wrap up at the end of July when the personal follow-ups were delayed by the pandemic. Door-to-door visits will begin nationwide Aug. 11 with the hopes of completion by October 31st.
Al Fontenot is with the Census Bureau. He said they’ve made data collection easier for the census workers also known as Enumerators.
“We have a program called the optimizer that helps route our enumerators in the fields of the most effective route," Fontenot said. "So the system is able to take their time availability data that we have on when people are most likely to be at home and then schedule them to make their calls during that time frame.”
The bureau has also purchased extra sanitary equipment for the workers in the field.
Tim Olsen, the associate Director for Field Operations, said, “every field employee receives a set of PPV equipment. It has a number of masks. It is individual gloves, and the hand sanitizer of bottles and the intent is that each employee will have enough through the duration of their service with us, which is typically four to six to eight weeks.”
Olsen said census workers are to limit their interaction time and to stand six feet away from the residents. The Census workers are not being tested. If suspected of getting the virus or testing positive… they will not return to work until 14 days after their symptoms have subsided.
