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The national census happens only once every 10 years, but the 2020 census, which aims to count everyone in the place where they're living as of today, is competing with a once-in-a-lifetime situation -- the coronavirus pandemic.
Still, the enormity of the pandemic and the extended disruption it's causing doesn't diminish the importance of obtaining a full count for Pennsylvania, which would lose almost $21,000 in federal funding over the next decade for every resident not counted, according to officials on a teleconference call hosted Monday by U.S. Sen. Bob Casey.
The main problems for now are the postponement of fieldwork, which can be essential for ensuring that hard-to-count populations who tend not to self-report are counted, coupled with the inability of census ambassadors to interact in person to encourage people loathe to respond, officials indicated.
"It's a huge challenge," said Stephanie Reid, executive director of Philly Counts.
There are several types of hard-to-count populations: people who are hard to locate, including those that don't appear on address lists or who want to stay hidden; people who are hard to contact, because they're mobile, homeless or live in gated communities; people who are hard to persuade, because they don't trust the government with their data; and people who are hard to interview, because of language barriers or lack of internet access, according to a blog written by Ron Jarmin, deputy director of the Census Bureau.
Children younger than 5, racial and ethnic minorities, the poor, LGBTQ people and those with mental or physical disabilities tend to be among the hard-to-count, Jarmin wrote.
Latinos tend to fear that census information will go to Immigration and Customs Enforcement or some other agency that could cause them trouble, said Norman Bristol-Colon, executive director of the Governor's Census 2020 Complete Count Commission.
The counting of children can be especially daunting, due to confusion about where they should be counted if they split time among households, according to Kari King, CEO of the Pa. Partnership for Children.
The last census undercounted children in Pennsylvania by 25,000, losing
$44 million in federal funding, King said.
They need to be counted where they live April 1 -- although college students home for the coronavirus need to be counted at the colleges where they'd otherwise be living, according to Stephanie Reid, executive director of Philly Counts.
Unable to go door-to-door or to hold events to encourage participation, groups like Reid's have resorted to YouTube, social media, advertisements on radio, TV, newspapers, buses and billboards to get the attention of hard-to-count -- or HTC -- people, according to teleconference participants.
But it's hard to get the attention of those whose biggest concern at this time of stress is getting enough to eat, Reid said.
The Bureau rates likely responsiveness for all census tracts based on the presence of HTC populations.
There are tracts in central Altoona that are predicted to have percentage response rates in the low 20s, unless there is the kind of special encouragement provided by the groups who spoke Monday.
Thirty-six percent of the 57,000 households in Blair County have responded so far, which is better than other local counties.
Pennsylvania's response as a whole is better than those of California, Texas, New York and Florida, but worst than those of Illinois, Ohio and Michigan, Bristol-Colon said.
The Bureau has delayed the deadline for getting all census information from July 31 to Aug. 14.
Early followups have been delayed about a month and are set for now to begin
May 7.
Subsequent followups have been delayed a couple of weeks and are set for now to begin May 28.
But the virus has no scheduled expiration. Thus, the federal government needs to take "additional steps" to ensure a complete and accurate count, while adhering to "public health imperatives" -- no matter the cost, Casey said.
"Not enough attention has been focused on this yet," Casey said.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.