Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz today announced that the U.S. Census Bureau will restart hand-delivering Census paper questionnaires to households with P.O. Boxes in an effort to increase participation in the decennial count.
“Achieving a complete count is vital now more than ever. Federal funding for vital programs such as Medicaid, SNAP, disaster relief, and school nutrition programs depends on it. We need to use all the tools at our disposal to ensure every Connecticut household is counted in the decennial count. By hand-delivering paper questionnaires to households that do not receive mail at their physical address, we can better reach a hard-to-count community of our state, which will move us closer to securing a100 percent count,” said Lt. Governor Bysiewicz.
The U.S. Census Bureau began delivering paper questionnaires to areas where a majority of households do not receive mail at their physical address on March 15, but suspended the operation on March 18 due to COVID-19.
Census Bureau field staff will begin delivering invitations to complete the 2020 U.S. Census to households with P.O. Boxes in six of Connecticut’s eight counties.
Through this operation, approximately 5,900 questionnaires in total will be distributed throughout Connecticut in the following weeks.
The U.S. Census Bureau will hand deliver:
- 2,200 invitations to Litchfield County
- 2,000 invitations to Windham County
- 825 invitations to New London County
- 500 invitations to Hartford County
- 300 invitations to Fairfield County
- 75 invitations to Tolland County
While hand-delivering the questionnaires, field staff will observe all social distancing protocols and will wear personal protective equipment. The operation is contactless and follows the most current federal health and safety guidelines.
Connecticut’s response rate – 64.4 percent – also exceeds the national average. Nationally, 60.7 percent of households have responded to the 2020 U.S. Census since invitations began arriving in mailboxes in mid-March, according to the 2020 U.S. Census website.
COVID-19 Delays 2020 Census
During the COVID-19 outbreak, the U.S. Census Bureau has adapted or delayed some of its operationsto protect the health and safety of its staff and the public.
The Census Bureau is seeking statutory relief from Congress of 120 additional calendar days to deliver final apportionment counts. Under this plan, the Census Bureau would extend the window for field data collection and self-response to October 31, 2020, which will allow for apportionment counts to be delivered to the President by April 30, 2021, and redistricting data to be delivered to the states no later than July 31, 2021.
The 2020 Census is open for self-response online at 2020Census.gov, over the phone by calling 844-330-2020 (in Spanish at 844-468-2020), and by paper through the mail.