Proponents are looking for new ways to promote the list in the midst of a pandemic | Covide-19

Census day is this Wednesday.

It is the official date when the government must try to get the U.S. population as accurate as possible.

Although federal law sets a date for April 1, this is no joke for April, though a new coronavirus spread across the country imposes long-planned efforts to promote maximum count participation once a decade.

“We had plans for a big task on Wednesday for Census Day,” said Anna Zook, a reference and digital services librarian at L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library.

But that promotional event came out the window when a library in the city of Eau Claire, like many other public buildings across the region, state and country, locked its doors as part of a social distraction attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19, a disease caused by the new coronavirus.

The canceled event should have field workers at the U.S. Census Bureau answering questions in the library’s mobile questionnaire help center, which also had a laptop dedicated to people completing the 2020 census form.

Library officials plan to “hit the ground running” by offering similar services, Zook said, as soon as they become fully clear that they are reopening from Gov. Tony Evers, who last week introduced a safer home order requiring Wisconsin residents to stay home by April 24. unless they carry out basic activities.

Outbreaks and such orders from states and cities to stay home and avoid other people only emerged when the census was lifted for most Americans, prompting the census office to delay door-to-door operations and push the deadline for completion by August 14.

Although restrictions on coronavirus have dampened efforts to promote participation in the census, Chippewa Valley residents are still beginning to make a strong start.

The Census Bureau opened the count on March 12 and began inviting households to participate in what should be the first primarily online census by opening the census my2020census.gov.

As of Sunday, the national response rate was 34.7%, with Wisconsin leading the state at 42.7% and several area counties exceeding the state rate. Eau Claire County was tied with Outagamie County at 49.8%, the fourth highest percentage among the state’s 72 counties behind Ozaukee, Calumet and Waukesha. The self-response rate in Chippewa County was 44.6% and in Dunn County 43.6%, shows the Census Bureau response tracking tool.

The COVID-19 situation may have changed plans, but the partners of the Eau Claire Complete Count Committee are finding alternative ways to promote participation in the census, said panel leader Pat Ivory, a senior planner for the city of Eau Claire.

“Our goal is still to have an accurate and complete inventory of the Chippewa Valley,” Ivory said. “We’re still trying to get the word out.”

It’s important to get an integer, because legislative districts and federal funding are based on updated census numbers, he said.

Each year, the federal government distributes more than $ 675 billion to states and communities based on census data. The money goes to highways, schools, libraries, emergency services, medical care, community development and dozens of other programs.

Ivory cited a study by George Washington University that found that the 16 largest federal funding programs provided $ 1,584 per person in Wisconsin.

“It’s a potential waste of funds for every person who doesn’t count in the state,” he said.

Municipalities also use census data when doing long-term planning for neighborhoods and services, he added.

Another key change related to the coronavirus that could compromise the exact number is the temporary closure of the campus of UW-Eau Claire, UW-Stout and Chippewa Valley Technical College as many students have retired to their hometowns.

However, the rules of the Census Bureau require that those students count where they go to school and not in their hometown, even if they do not reside in the city where they attend college on Census Day.

It’s a message UW-Eau Claire officials are promoting via email and social media posts because they no longer have personal access to students.

The university’s housing department is working directly with the Census Bureau to provide the correct number of students living in campus dorms, but off-campus students pose a greater challenge, said Robin Miller, UW-Eau Claire Library Librarian at McIntyre Library be a community listing list before it closes.

“We try to make sure students have accurate information,” Miller said. “We want to make sure they understand that everyone counts because they are all part of this whole thing we call the United States.”

LE Phillips Memorial Public Library officials also focus on virtual ways to continue listing, such as highlighting links on a library website and sharing posts on social media, but Zook recognizes that these methods may not be effective in reaching people who do not have internet access and may rely on library computers to run the list.

These people have the ability to fill out a paper copy of the census questionnaire and send it to the post office, submit information by phone or wait for the library to reopen, though that date depends on the virus’s progression, Zook said.

Most households needed to receive more reminder messages, so that they would now be encouraged to respond to networks. Another reminder will be released in April to people who did not participate, along with a paper questionnaire for those who do not know how to respond digitally.