AliaYou may remember that when the pandemic hit, I declined to go out and work the US 2020 Decennial Census until the situation became clearer. Eventually, in August, I was called back to work the next phase of the census.
This phase is called NRFU, for Non-Response Follow-Up campaign. Our job was to go out with bureau-issued iphones and knock on doors and do the interviews at addresses where no one has responded by mail, telephone or online so far.
By now, we know a lot more about the novel coronavirus. At the beginning, it was so new and moving so fast, it seemed as though it were like radioactivity and that we could catch it just by touching a staircase banister that some infected person had touched 3 weeks earlier.
I decided that everybody is much more aware of social/physical distancing protocols and mask wearing, etc. And so I re-upped my training and was duly issued an iPhone, clipboard and stylish shoulder bag.
The work got me up & out and talking to people. I met a lot of interesting, kind people and got to know the backroads of this area. Although I was expecting quite a bit of resistance from whackjobs and wingnuts, in fact, 95% of people were really nice. And fortunately, half the of the other 5% were never home.
So before I forget some of these people, I’m going to recount (pun intended) some of their stories in the next several posts. No names or birthdates or other specifics, of course: your data is confidential for 72 years.
