The U.S. Census Bureau has extended the 2020 census guideline deadline in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

To give the country more time to start their recovery from COVID-19, the department has extended the deadline to Oct. 31, according to Fernando Armstrong, regional director of the 2020 Census.

Originally set for the end of July, Armstrong said the extension will allow for the availability for people to go online to complete the census, to do it on the phone, or to do it on paper until Oct. 31.

“We are extending it to Oct. 31 because we know that people are challenged and are trying to stay alive,” he said. “And we needed to give them more time to complete the census, and we did.”

Armstrong said that the Census Bureau will remind people of the importance of the census, the benefit that comes with it, and that it’s confidential and safe.

He said Pennsylvania has been trending ahead of the national rate. The reason why Carbon County and some areas are behind is because of the lack of contact.

“Instead of mailing a letter inviting the residents to go online and using a specific ID number, go in and do their census online, for some parts in Carbon, in particular the northeastern part, we did not do that.”

Armstrong said they deliver in person, and their staff canvass the area and plastic bag with a letter, the paper questionnaire, envelope for people to complete the form and mail it back.

“Unfortunately, we started that around the middle of March, and a few days later we had to stop, following the direction of the CDC and White House and Department of Commerce,” he said. “We had to stop, and we haven’t returned to do that.”

Armstrong said most people are teleworking, and personal contact has been minimized.

“We are not visiting people, we are not knocking on doors,” he said. “That is the reason why those households have not received their paper form.”

On the whole, Armstrong said the response has been solid.

“However, we are excited that other parts of the county are doing very well,” he said. “Once we resume going door to door, which right now is scheduled for the middle of June, we are then going to deliver the forms and get people what they need.”

In the meantime, Armstrong said there are other ways the public can fill out the census.

“They do not need to wait for us to deliver that letter or questionnaire,” he said. “We have been working with the county, we have our partnership specialists who have been working with all the partners we have and we are on the phone and reaching out to a lot of people reminding them they can do it on the phone, they can go online and do it even if they don’t have that ID number. We have not stopped getting the word out.”

Moving forward, census workers will return to the field based on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Gov. Tom Wolf.

“We want to be respectful and (hopefully) abide by the directives from the federal government and state government. At this point, we expect that by the middle of June, we’ll be in a position to return to carry out the rest of the operations that we need to do for the census. We are working and following the guidelines from the governor’s office, federal government and all the experts that know when it is safe to return to do our work.”

Armstrong praised Carbon County’s leadership in these times.

“We are very, very thankful to the (leaders of) Carbon County that have very, very actively, very forcefully, worked to get the message out of the importance of the census,” he said. “They are working with us, leading the community to do the right thing; we want to express our gratitude.”

Armstrong stressed the vital role the census plays.

“In terms of the importance to the census, this is an opportunity that we have only once every 10 years,” he said. “The result of the census determines how many people go to Congress on behalf of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Armstrong noted that over $675 billion comes back to the community in terms of schools and hospitals and roads and many other services that we depend on.

“In 2020 in particular, now that we are overwhelmed by this pandemic and we are all challenged by it, we need to be certain that our leadership at the state level, at the federal level, has the right data to make the critical decisions that need to be made going forward,” he said. “If this were to happen again, anything that is affecting the community, we want our leadership to have all the fresh, accurate data they need to be able to make the decision looking out for our communities. All that comes from an accurate census.”

Armstrong said it’s crucial for everyone to participate.

“If we don’t take that opportunity in 2020, we won’t have that opportunity again until 2030. A lot can happen in between,” he said. “It’s very important that we do our civic duty and count ourselves in 2020.”

Armstrong said that includes the younger population as well.

“We want the college students to be in it, we want the children to be in it,” he said. “You need to be on the census.”

The 2020 census can be filled out at 2020Census.gov, by calling 844-330-2020 or by mail.