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U.S. Census Bureau restarts door-to-door counting

An aerial view of Toksook Bay, showing snow-covered houses in a compact village with snowy sea ice in the foreground.
Counting for the 2020 Census began in January 21 in Toksook Bay (Photo U.S. Census Bureau)

The U.S. Census Bureau is back to delivering forms to Alaskan households without a physical address. The process begins Wednesday, May 6. The hand delivery of census material originally began March 15, but was discontinued in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic three days later.

The Census Bureau says that the teams delivering the materials have been trained to observe social distancing, and will be following federal health and safety guidelines.

Find the latest coverage of the coronavirus in Alaska.

The Census Bureau’s temporary field staff will be using government-provided protective equipment as they hand-deliver the census material to households. The Census expects its field operation to deliver materials to 110,000 households in Alaska.

Information from this count is used in a variety of ways, including as a basis for calculating the funding for various federal and state programs important to rural Alaska.

Anna Rose MacArthur is a reporter at KYUK in Bethel.