The U.S. Census Bureau is pushing back the deadline to respond to the 2020 Census because of the novel coronavirus, officials announced Friday.  

The deadline, which was originally scheduled for the end of July, has now been delayed until Aug. 14, according to Tim Olson, the associate director for field operations at the bureau.

As of Friday, all U.S. residents should have received a notice to participate in the mail, said Al Fontenot, the bureau’s associate director for decennial programs. At least 18.6 million households have responded, of which roughly 98% did so online.

The national self-response rate was 21.0% as of Sunday, on par with Colorado’s rate of 21.2%. Nearly 94% of Colorado’s responses have been submitted online.

This year marks the first time the census is available online, although U.S. residents can still complete the questionnaire by telephone or mail.

“We’re focused highly on making sure people know that this is the easiest way to respond and the safest way to respond, especially in light of this virus condition,” Fontenot said.

The census deadline extension comes just days after the bureau announced it was suspending its field operations by two weeks to help protect its workers and the public from the coronavirus when dropping off questionnaires in remote and rural places.

The bureau also is adjusting its plans to count people experiencing homelessness. The count was planned for April 1 but will now be pushed back a month. Counts of people living in group quarters, such as dormitories and nursing homes, will be delayed as well.

May will also mark the month when most census workers will start knocking on the doors of residents who have not completed the questionnaire. As of now, that process is slated to begin May 7 instead of April 9.

“Of all of our worst nightmares of things that could have gone wrong with the census, we did not anticipate this set of actions,” Fontenot said. “But our staff has been extremely resilient about looking for solutions and ways we can still be very effective in terms of reaching out to get a response from every person in the United States.”

The census, which helps determine the number of congressional seats each state receives, as well as how $1.5 trillion in federal spending gets distributed, is due to the president by Dec. 31.

When asked whether that deadline would be met, Fontenot said, “We’re not going to anticipate what might happen if it keeps extending out, but we’re going to take firm, direct action on what the current situation is as we continue to review it every day.”