2020 U.S. Census: The Count Begins Today With First-Time Online Access For Americans

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The U.S. Census officially begins today, which makes it a good time to do your 10 minute civil and legal duty by filling out the information online.

Morning Insider Lauren Victory reports, Census questionnaires won't be in mailboxes for several weeks. Instead, postcards and letters from U.S. Census Bureau will encourage Americans to submit answers online. That capability goes live today, for the first time in Census history: Just go to my2020census.gov.

Your answers should be based where you'll be living on April 1, also known as Census Day. You're required by law to fill this out, and Illinois is spending $29 million to make sure you do.
That's largest per capita investment of any state this year.

Illinois leaders say just 1 percent of people missed will equate to $195 million in lost funding over the next decade.

If you don't fill out the forms, strangers called Census takers will come knocking on your door starting in mid-May until the end of July. At this point, even COVID-19 won't stop them. The feds tell U.S. epidemic and pandemic responses are built into their procedures. The Census Bureau tells us it created COVID-19 internal task force to supplement its existing pandemic plan.