06.15.20 COVID-19 Briefing Live Stream Transcript

The County of Santa Clara
June 15, 2020
Live Stream - Live with the County of Santa Clara
10am PT

Marianna Moles: Good morning. My name is Marianna Moles and I'm a Public Information Officer with the County of Santa Clara. Here at the Emergency Operations Center. And today we are going to be talking about the 2020 Census. We have Monica Tong here who is with the County of Santa Clara 2020 Census program. Thank you so much for joining us Monica. Uh I uh, Monica is gonna go ahead and remove her face covering too before we get started. I just removed mine. And we do remove these to make sure that our American sign language interpreters can understand what we are saying. But we do wear these all day long when we are in the Emergency Operations Center. We are wearing these masks for 11, 12, 13, sometimes 14 hours a day here. So still, really important for all of us to be wearing face coverings when we are out in public. So, thank you for doing that. So, the. And also want to give the case update before we get started here. We have a total of three thousand one hundred and ninety-seven cases of COVID-19 in our county. We had two additional deaths, and our condolences are with those families and friends of those people who have passed away. And bringing the total, of total deaths to 151. So, 2020 Census. it's been quite a year as we know here with the pandemic. And it's a really important year because it's a census year. Something that doesn't come along for, you know it comes along every 10 years. So, very important. The Census means that our community is insured funding for schools, health care programs, for vulnerable populations, roads, and much much more. And that is why it is so important that all of us take the census and that we are counted. So, I completed my census probably not even that long ago. But it feels like a year ago because we are in pandemic time here. And it's still not too late to complete the census. So, Monica, can you tell us a little bit about what the census is and why it is so important that everybody participates?

Monica Tong: Sure, thank you for having us. Good morning everyone. The census is a decennial survey that happens, as it says, ten years. So, the last one was in 2010. And this one is now in 2020. The census is a count of everyone living here in the United States. And it is so important that everyone participates because we need to ensure our fair share of funding, like Marianna said. But also for our political representation in Congress and locally.

MM: Great, thank you. So, census day was April 1st of this year. And people can still participate? Can people be counted over the phone or online? Or how how can they participate?

MT: Absolutely. While we celebrated census day on April participate. So, if you haven't completed your census yet please be sure to do so. As Mariana was saying, you can do it online, over the phone, or by paper form. Online, you can visit my2020census.gov or by calling 844-330-2020. Those two options are available in multiple languages. And if you decide to take your paper form and complete it, it is available in English and Spanish. MM: And so, what if somebody is renting a room or they don't have an address. How do they participate?

MT: It's a great question. Uh, if you are renting a room you can participate. You know it's up to you and your household how you wish to complete the census. You can do it as a household or you can do it individually, multiple multiple forms per address are accepted. However, the biggest and most important thing is to make sure that each person in your household gets counted. From roommates, to tenants, to your children. For some reason, children zero to five where some of the most under counted population in 2010. So, we really want to get that message out. That your kids count. So, everyone living in your household must get counted.

MM: Mm-hmm-hmm, so important. So, how did COVID-19 impact the census year? Because you've been preparing for this for a very long time. Something like this takes so much preparation, at least a year. And then the pandemic hit. So.

MT: Yes! So, they. the shelter in place coincided with the beginning of census. So, we immediately shifted to doing a lot more outreach digitally and at a distance, so that you know we keep our community safe. But, the US Census Bureau due to COVID-19 also extended the self-response deadline out, until October 31st, 2020. So, while we do have that amount of time to participate, which is great. We do want people to complete their forms as soon as they can, so we can get everyone counted now.

MM: And so, what if. What if our county does not respond and people do not make sure that they are counted. How is that going to impact our funding? Especially with things like emergency response that we're experiencing right now, with the pandemic. Because it's federal funding.

MT: Yeah

MM: So, how, how does that impact us?

MT: Absolutely, that's a great question. Over, over 700 billion dollars a year gets allocated annually to by Washington to our local communities. Of that, California receives seventy-six billion dollars in federal funding every year. So, if we don't get counted, we don't receive our fair share. This is our one shot, every ten years to set the level of funding for certain programs. Like you mentioned, through emergency services, for for supplemental nutrition, for WIC, for foster care, for all these programs that are needed by our community. We only get that one shot every ten years to set that funding level. And if we don't get it right, we're not getting our fair share. So, it's that important to participate. Because this doesn't only affect us this year in 2020 but for the next ten years. And we don't get that chance again until 2030. MM: Mm-hmm, yes. Thanks for making that point. How has the response been so far in our County?

MT: The response has been really great. We are excited by the initial response from our community. We are currently around 70-70.5%. So, that's really great. We are standing at number two in the whole state. And we have gotten over four hundred ninety thousand households counted in Santa Clara County. But, you know that just shows that we still have some work to do. And we're looking forward to engaging with our community to get the rest of folks counted. To make sure that we get our fair share for all of those programs we talked about.

MM: So, let's go over a little bit about what people need to include. And maybe some questions that they have, some concerns that they might have. And you touched on this one a little bit. But, when completing the census. Who should people include? Because, not everybody is going to take it necessarily. If there's a family, please explain.

MT: Sure. Well, you know when you're completing your census, we want every person counted in your household. So, if you have multiple families living together, we want every person counted. I want to make it very clear that any any information you provide to the Census Bureau is protected by law. It is confidential and is not shared with other agencies. So, the only information that we can tell. Or, the information that gets provided to the public in 2021. The smallest area that we can find is a neighborhood, which is called a census tract. So, that means we will never be able to know, for for over seventy years, who exactly is living at, say 123 first street. The information that we'll have is, this many people or this percentage of people are between 0 and won't be able to tell information about individuals. So, please be sure to count every person living in your household. We want to make sure that everyone knows that their landlord will not find out how many folks are living in your house via census. This information is really important. If you know you want to talk about, who to count, feel free to reach out to us. If you have any questions about whether or not you participated, do do feel free to reach out to us. But it is really important that you count everyone. From your your your family that might be living with you for a few months right now, or you know your children as we talked about a little bit earlier. But please do count every person living in your house.

MM: And correct me if I'm wrong. But it's everybody who is living in your home as of April 1st.

MT: That's correct

MM: That should be counted.

MT: Yes, yes. Yes, that's what the April 1st date is. It's a point-in-time count. So, that means that you're supposed to fill out the form for who is living under your roof on April 1st, 2020. But that does bring up the point you know, you don't necessarily need to have, a lot of people are waiting for their census IDs. And that's not necessary to complete the form. So, those who don't have a census ID, you can go to my2020census.gov. And then you can click, I do not have a census ID please click here. And then it will ask you for some additional information, including your address. But, for those who are unhoused, or unstably housed, or move around a little bit. You can actually put in where you normally stay. So, if that happens to be somewhere like St. James Park, you can put St. James Park. So, every person can complete their census. And we want everyone to feel comfortable to do so. Because they can, the, it is a self-identifying form. So, they can choose how they want to complete the form.

MM: And the Census ID is something that you receive in the mail with the form.

MT: Yes MM: But you do as Monica said, you do not need it to actually take the census online. Uh, is there any information. Or, sorry. Is there a question about citizenship on the census?

MT: No. There is no question on citizenship on the census. We are very excited that, to spread that message. And make sure that everyone in our community knows that the citizenship.

MM: And what about SOGIE questions? And could you define what SOGIE is, for those people who may not know? SOGIE, is sexual orientation and gender identity expression. And while the gender question is binary unfortunately. We are, we in at the county are not really excited by that. But, we really want to empower people to complete the form as as their individual. So that they can be counted in the way that they want to be, in terms of a social orientation. Unfortunately, there's no question about that on the form. But, for the first time in history. When you mark how you're related to the folks in your household, you are able to mark that an individual is the same-sex partner. So, that is one way to mark that on the census this year. While it's not perfect. We are making strides. So, please be sure to complete your census. And then we can work towards

MM: Mm-hmm, thank you for that. Uh, question here that people may be thinking to themselves, they have a lot in their plate right now. You know, considering the situation that all of us are in. What can those people do or what should they keep in mind?

MT: Absolutely, we understand that everyone is busy right now and there's a lot going on. However, I do want to let you know that the census only takes about 10 minutes. And one of our, one of our key phrases is the census takes 10 minutes for 10 years of impact in your community. So, make sure that you take that 10 minutes. So that we can have that, the resources that we need here in the county. And the political representation that we need for the next 10 years.

MM: 10 minutes. And really I feel like it took me five minutes. So, yeah. It's a really short amount of time. So, on average, yeah 10 minutes for 10 years of impact. But really it might be much shorter depending on how quick you are. But because it's very basic information you have to go look anything up. Uhm, you don't have to think back to things. Really, it's just information you should know right offhand. What can people in our community really do to help us maximize the response in our County? Which we're doing really well. But, we still have that 30% to go.

MT: Absolutely, you know. Since this is something that comes once every 10 years. So, we find that folks you know do it and then they kind of forget about it. Which is what happened in 2010. But that's fine. And we want to just make sure that everyone knows that it is their right and and their their ability to complete their census. So, what. One thing that you can do is call your friends, talk to your friends, talk to your family about why it's so important that we all get counted this year. You know another thing that we're asking folks to do is post on social media, about why you're participating in census this year. And hopefully that message will resonate with someone in your life; that you know might not see some of our advertisements or might not be connecting with some of the community-based organizations that we're working with. But, they might see you. And and see that you were participating in census and they might actually complete theirs as well. So, that is a great way. Other ways to get involved, you can visit our website SCCgov.org/census and become a census champion.

MM: Awesome, thank you so much. And just as a reminder, you can go online and take the census right now after watching this. my2020census, excuse me, my2020census.gov. I'm clearing my throat, I do not have a cold. I just want to make that clear. And so, thank you so much for being with us today Monica. We will continue to push out information about the importance of taking the 2020 census on our social media and so will the Office of the census. And if you have any questions go to their website. Thank you so much for being with us this morning.

MT: Thank you.