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One thing that could take care of about 10 minutes of safe-at-home time would be filling out the census questionnaire online.

Plenty of people have already been doing that in Jessamine County.

Tuesday, Jessamine County Judge-Executive David West said about 55 percent of county residents have already responded. Statewide, about 49.8 percent of residents have responded already, he said.

“Our citizens have been very responsive,” West said. “We’re ahead of the curve.”

There’s still plenty of room for further improvement, though.

“I’m getting ready to do a (public service announcement) telling people since they’re sitting at home to get online and fill out the questionnaire,” West said. “That determines, especially in days like this, how funds are allocated.”

The census is a federally mandated count of everyone in the U.S. The data is used in a number of ways, including determining congressional districts and funding.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic, though, has brought delays to most phases of the census.

According to www.census.gov, the self-reporting phase has been extended from July 31 to Aug. 14. In this phase, residents respond to the questionnaire either online, by phone or through the mail.

The virus, though, has halted public presentations.

According to the census website, other phases have been delayed until May 1 at the earliest. The website says plans are still on schedule to deliver the apportionment counts to the president by Dec. 31 and the redistricting counts to the states by April 1, 2021.