From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov

Transcript for: COVID-19 Threatens 2020 Census with Delays, Added Costs

Description: The 2020 Census is well underway, but it faces challenges
created by the coronavirus pandemic. Hear the latest from Chris Mihm,
managing director of GAO's Strategic Issues Team, and Nick Marinos, a
director in our Information Technology and Cybersecurity Team

Related GAO Work: GAO-20-551R, 2020 Census: COVID-19 Presents Delays and
Risks to Census Count

Released: June 2020

[Intro Music]

[Nick Marinos:] The reality is that, although the coronavirus has
impacted the 2020 Census, we can also do our part to make it easier down
the line for the Bureau to complete its work. 

[Holly Hobbs:] Hi and welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report--your source for
news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. I'm
Holly Hobbs. 

The 2020 Census is well underway, but it faces challenges created by the
coronavirus pandemic. Delays and challenges to the Census Bureau's
operations present a risk to the census, and may impact its accuracy,
timeliness and cost. With me to talk about the impacts of COVID-19 in
the 2020 Census are Chris Mihm, a Managing Director in GAO's Strategic
Issues team, and Nick Marinos, a Director of our Information Technology
and Cybersecurity team. Welcome, Chris and Nick. 

[Chris Mihm:] Thank you. 

[Nick Marinos:] Thanks Holly. 

[Holly Hobbs:] Chris, has how the Census Bureau responded to COVID-19. 

[Chris Mihm:] Well, the big issue for the Census Bureau is, just as the
COVID-19 was leading to closures across the country, the Census Bureau
had to close down the decennial census in the beginning of March. And so
basically all field operations, all major operations ceased for a number
of weeks. Now, they are beginning to reopen now. And they're getting
back into the field. But that has extended the timeframes for data
collection from the end of July for peak operations into, well into
October. 

[Holly Hobbs:] What impact is the coronavirus having on collecting
information for the census? 

[Chris Mihm:] Well, the impact is in a couple of areas. First is making
sure that they're able to go out and locate the individuals that didn't
respond to the census. Either through the questionnaires or through the
Internet option that was available this time. They have to find those
people and actually still do the enumeration. There's obviously a huge
issue of what would happen if the virus comes back, or if in parts of
the country they're not able to do the enumeration. And then on the back
end there making sure that they have the time to do, to gather all the
information, do the data quality checks, and pull it together in order
to release it. Now, they have asked the Congress for statutory relief on
the due dates that are at the end of year, where they have to give the
apportionment counts, the population counts that are used for
apportionment for seats in the House of Representatives. They've asked
for a four-month delay on that. We'll have to see whether or not that
legislation is passed. 

[Holly Hobbs:] Nick, technology has improved quite a bit since the last
census in 2010. Is the Census Bureau using any of that technology to
overcome obstacles caused by the coronavirus? 

[Nick Marinos:] Yeah, absolutely, Holly. I mean, the reality is that the
census, the decennial this year looks very different than it did back in
2010, and in previous decennials as well. And probably the two biggest
things are their use of the Internet self-response option, which gives
folks ability to go online to actually respond in a safe and quick way
to the census. And that's really important because, obviously, you know
--if folks don't respond online or they can also use the mail or by
phone--then that means a census employee is going to have to go out and
call up in person. Which is not only costly, but also more difficult in
a COVID-19 environment. So the Bureau's been, you know, also expanding
the number, the amount of time that people have available to them to
actually use the Internet response option from July to now October--that
gives folks more time to respond online. And so far, they've seen tens
of millions of people actually use that as a way to respond to the
survey.

[ Music ]

[Holly Hobbs:] So it sounds like the coronavirus is preventing the
Census Bureau from taking some of the steps it normally would to
increase response rates. And instead the bureau is having to rely more
on residents proactively responding by Internet, phone or mail. Chris,
what is the Census Bureau doing to get the word out about the census and
changes to the census caused by COVID-19? 

[Chris Mihm:] Yeah, well, Holly, you're absolutely right. Is that the
COVID-19 really threw up in the air an awful lot of their pledged
partnerships that they had had. They had over 300,000 partnerships
across the country--with local organizations, civic organizations--to
get them to go out, trusted voices in the community, to talk about the
census, and increase both awareness and public response to the census. A
lot of those went away as we all kind of locked down and went to shelter
in place. Now, some have been able to be done virtually, some of these
partnership activities. But it's not nearly as robust as they had been
planning. Likewise, they'd been planning for mobile questionnaire
assistance centers. They haven't been able to use those either the way
they had been planned. In response there's been a rather aggressive
media campaign that they've put in place. Even more aggressive than
initially planned. They're telling people there's still time to respond
to the census. And as you're locked down, it's even, spend some time.
Respond to the census while you're locked down. And so the initial plans
all went away, but they've been working very, very hard to try and keep
virtual partnerships activated as well as an augmented and more
aggressive media campaign. 

[Holly Hobbs:] Nick? 

[Nick Marinos:] In addition to the information that the bureau is
getting out to help folks understand exactly how to respond to the
census, they're also informing the public about potential misinformation
or disinformation related to the 2020 Census. Or in particular how
COVID-19 impacts the census. So they're really working hard to have an
education and communication campaign and post information to the
agency's website. That way, as an individual is hearing something about
the census that doesn't sound right, they can go to the authoritative
source to understand exactly, you know, how best to interact--and also
how 2020 Census responses are going to be protected by the bureau. 

[Holly Hobbs:] So can the census be successfully completed even though
we're in the midst of a pandemic? 

[Chris Mihm:] The short answer to that is yes. The Census Bureau, one of
the very good things that has happened is that people have used this
time in lockdown as an opportunity to continue to respond to the census.
And so they hit at a 60 percent response rate, which was a threshold
that they really wanted to hit in order to be able to have manageability
going forward. They're still going to have to hire 300,000 or more
census takers, these enumerators that Nick mentioned, to go out and do
the door-to-door knocking on this. They can be successful on this with
that high response rate that they got. The key will probably be the
extent to which they get statutory relief from the Congress. That is, a
delay of several months in order to provide them the extra time that
they need to do the fieldwork, to gather the information, and then
process it and do the necessary data checks. 

[Holly Hobbs:] Bottom line, what should people know about the census and
the coronavirus's impacts on it? 

[Nick Marinos:] The bottom line, Holly, is that it's still quick and
easy to respond to the census. Whether individuals use the online
system, which the vast majority of people have used, or by mail, or by
phone. And so, you know, the reality is that, although the coronavirus
has impacted Bureau's plans for the 2020 Census, we can also do our part
to make it easier down the line for the Bureau to complete its work. 

[Holly Hobbs:] That was Chris Mihm and Nick Marinos talking about GAO's
review of the 2020 Census under COVID-19. Thank you for your time, guys. 

[Chris Mihm:] You're welcome, Holly, my pleasure. 

[Nick Marinos:] Yeah, mine too. Thanks a lot, Holly. 

[Holly Hobbs:] And thank you for listening to the Watchdog Report. To
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[ Music ]