Hansi Lo Wang

NPR politics, science and national correspondents relay the latest news on the response in the United States to the coronavirus epidemic.

NPR's census correspondent takes questions about how COVID-19 is impacting the national head count of every person living in the U.S.

Stay-at-home orders have upended plans by community groups to promote the 2020 census at in-person events. Census advocates are now trying out creative but socially distant ways to promote the count.

The Census Bureau says it's suspending for two more weeks the hiring of temporary workers and in-person visits in remote communities and areas recovering from natural disasters for the 2020 count.

NPR national and science correspondents answer listener questions about why the coronavirus outbreak has been especially bad in New York City and the surrounding region.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is warning about a coming spike in coronavirus cases, while California officials are bracing for the virus to spread there, raising concerns about hospital preparedness.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced it will delay all field operations until April 1 due to the coronavirus outbreak.

U.S. households can respond at my2020census.gov, over the phone or by paper. But to "protect the health and safety" of the public, the Census Bureau says it's pausing field operations for two weeks.

This year, the Census Bureau is asking those who mark "white" as their race to add their origin: Germany or Italy, for example. But some white people say they're not sure how to answer that question.

The Census Bureau is relying on public participation in the 2020 census to produce accurate data about the country. But earning the public's trust has been especially difficult this time around.

The growing coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. is complicating efforts to count all of the country's residents for the 2020 census. Census workers are heading to homeless shelters soon.

Advocates from Middle Eastern and North African communities in the U.S. have pushed for decades to get their own check box on census forms. But the 2020 census won't include one.

It happens only once a decade, so it can be hard to make sense of the census. NPR's census reporter has rounded up facts that debunk some of the most common misconceptions about the national count.

For the first time in U.S. history, the federal government is trying to count most households through the Internet for the once-a-decade census, but the rollout has been fraught with risks.

The Census Bureau plans to rely on houses of worship to help promote participation. But some faith leaders are not sure how to address fear among their congregants on how census data could be misused.

Weeks before the 2020 census rolls out to the rest of the U.S., the head count has already wrapped up in Toksook Bay, a fishing village in southwest Alaska that's home to the Nunakauyarmiut Tribe.

Weeks before the census is fully underway, the Government Accountability Office finds the Census Bureau is behind on recruiting workers and resolving risks with the first primarily online U.S. count.

A new Government Accountability Office report shows the Census Bureau is behind on recruiting 2020 census workers, and notes security challenges for the census website expected to roll out in a month.

The bureau says it needs around a half-million temporary workers by this spring to carry out the national head count. Some census advocates are worried the agency isn't moving fast enough on hiring.

Rising temperatures are speeding up erosion in some Alaska Native villages and making traveling on ice roads more dangerous, threatening the Census Bureau's plans for an accurate count.