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NEW: There are a number of open questions about #2020Census data quality raised in the @USGAO's latest report on the potential impact of COVID-19, plus the Trump administration's last-minute schedule changes that cut short counting and processing time
https://www.gao.gov/assets/720/711005.pdf
https://www.gao.gov/assets/720/711005.pdf
2. COVID-19 forced delay of the count of people experiencing homelessness, which could result in misrepresenting where these populations were living on Census Day (4/1). @USGAO says bureau has not explained how it plans to document how that could impact data products' accuracy.
3. The #2020Census door-knocking in August into early September was conducted under Trump administration pressure to finish counting early using pay bonuses to field workers and other procedures that were not tested beforehand, so how they could affect data quality is unknown.
4. Under Trump admin pressure to end counting early, the Census Bureau accelerated door-knocking efforts. Did that disproportionately affect the quality of data about historically undercounted groups, including Black people, Latinos & American Indians living on tribal lands?
5. To try to count unresponsive households in Louisiana that were hit by hurricanes, the Census Bureau leaned more heavily on government records, some of which did not have information about young children. @USGAO says the bureau is now reviewing that move.
6. The Census Bureau told @USGAO it did not remove any levels of quality reviews of state-by-state counts by subject matter experts, but as of October, the Commerce Department, which oversees the bureau, hasn't given GAO a copy of the new processing timeline.
7. The @USGAO says that under the current processing schedule that was shortened by the Trump administration, there is "little or no time left" for the Census Bureau to re-process #2020Census population files state by state to find errors as the bureau did for the 2010 count.
8. The Trump administration's last-minute #2020Census schedule changes cut short the testing time for IT systems the bureau is using right now to process the results. That left the bureau with less time than originally planned to address any system defects.
9. The Trump admin's decision to cut the #2020Census schedule short at the last minute forced the bureau to stop adding new addresses to its main address list weeks before counting ended, which, @USGAO found, "could limit the data available to review for apportionment purposes."
10. The @USGAO says it's not clear if the Census Bureau "will have time to assure" the quality of the #2020Census redistricting data if it sticks with its current accelerated plan to release them around the legal reporting deadline of March 31, 2021.
11. @USGAO estimates the total cost of the #2020Census changes due to COVID-19 and the Trump admin's last-minute schedule cuts is over $1.8B, which falls within the Census Bureau's $2B contingency budget. That amount could go up if the bureau gets more time to process results.
12. @USGAO says the Census Bureau is working with independent scientific consultants with the JASON group to come up with ways to release more indicators of the quality of #2020Census data before they're released, per the recommendations of @ASA_SciPol and other groups.
