Washington, DC (KROC AM News) - The U.S. Census Bureau is resuming its operations in Minnesota this week after shutting down for two months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Workers are expected to begin dropping off 2020 Census questionnaire packets at front doors of homes in areas where the majority of households do not receive mail at their physical address.

Based on the latest data, Minnesota leads the country with its 70-percent response rate, followed by Wisconsin (67.4%) and Iowa (66.9%). The current national response rate is 60.1-percent. Minnesota’s response rate in the 2010 census was 74.1-percent. More than half of the responses were completed online.

Olmsted County has a current response rate of 73.9-percent (2010 rate was 76.7%) while Rochester is reporting a rate of 73-percent (2010 rate was 77.1%). Carver County leads the state with a return rate of 80-percent.

The bureau says workers have been trained to observe all social distancing protocols and will wear official government-provided personal protective equipment. The workers are expected to leave the packets at nearly 87,000 households in Minnesota. The census says the information “is crucial to ensure a complete and accurate count of all communities, which helps guide hundreds of billions of dollars in public and private sector spending per year.” 

People are strongly encouraged to respond promptly to the 2020 Census using the ID number included in the questionnaire packet. Responding with a census ID or the paper questionnaire helps ensure the best count of their community. People can respond online, by phone or by using the paper form in the packet.

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