Central Texas News

Before the coronavirus crisis, state leadership was set to have meetings on education and other state priorities. Meetings and seminars were set. The state was also planning to conduct the once-a-decade census count.

However, the coronavirus crisis has put all plans on hold indefinitely. The census count was already underway when the virus hit the U.S. Due to all the shutdowns, state officials decided not to fund any census outreach work.

Now officials are trying to figure out how to get Texans to answer the census questionnaires while the nation is in the middle of a pandemic. Calls for social distancing are forcing everyone to keep their distance.

Mandated by the constitution, the count that began in Texas two weeks ago is supposed to be completed by the summer. The Census Bureau has informed state authorities that it is monitoring the coronavirus crisis.

The pandemic is making the count very difficult. With orders being given to utilize social distancing, officials and census surveyors are having a hard time getting an accurate count.

Margaret Wallace Brown, the planning and development director for the city of Houston, says that from the beginning, the census issue has been a "ground game." 

“From the beginning, we identified this as a ground game. The more people we could physically talk to, the better,” Margaret Wallace Brown told Fort Worth Business Press. “We were shaking hands and kissing babies. Well, those two things are not doable right now, so how do we replace that with another ‘high-touch’ circumstance that will convey the message as compelling as a face-to-face conversation?”