Even the 2020 census is not immune from the novel coronavirus.
Face-to-face outreach efforts to conduct the census count in New Mexico have been hampered by the disease, which infected more than 1 million and killed over 50,000 worldwide as of April 4.
For groups like immigrant-led Somos un Pueblo Unido, it will be difficult to repeat the work it put in between August and March when it went knocking on doors throughout Santa Fe, Rio Arriba, Lee, Chavez and Roosevelt counties.
“Face-to-face conversations aren’t the same as phone banking or mailers or social media, but those tactics still have value, and they’re what we have to rely on now,” Marcela Díaz, director of Somos un Pueblo Unido, said.
Since New Mexico is behind other states in responding to the census, local governments and community organizations are turning to the Internet, the telephone and even old-fashioned mail so that the state does not miss out on the tally because the census is important when it comes to funding schools, health care and infrastructure.