The Mexico Counts committee is gearing up for the big Census Day event April 1. In the mean time, 2020 Census invitations are being sent to U.S. residents through March 20.

“We are exploring the idea of setting up a couple physical locations during the week of April 1. We are still working on that,” said committee member Jamie Pehle.

The committee is waiting to see how initial census responses shape up before moving to the next step of reaching out to harder to count populations, such as immigrants or the homeless.

There is a plan to promote the census through banners placed at locations throughout the community, such as at the intersection of South Clark Street and West Boulevard.

Residents can respond to the census by mail, phone or online. The homeless population count will start March 30 through April 1.

The big push for Census Day on April 1 is for the U.S. Census Bureau to take a one-day snapshot of where people live as of April 1.

Census takers will start visiting college campuses, senior centers and nursing facilities and other facilities that house multiple people starting in April as well. Trained census takers, which includes Mexico and Audrain County Residents, will start visiting homes in May to follow-up with addresses that have not submitted census information.

The Census Bureau is working to ensure the safety of census workers due to the outbreak of coronavirus. The bureau has established an internal task force to monitor the situation, according to a news release.

The bureau is encouraging U.S. residents to respond online as soon as a household receives an invitation. The census is available in 13 languages. Paper questionnaires will be mailed between April 8-16, which includes a prepaid postage envelope.