Rural Health Information Hub Latest News

HHS Providing Up to 125M Face Masks to Schools

HHS is working to support safe school reopening for students, teachers and staff. In support of this, HHS is providing up to 125 million cloth face masks to states and territories for distribution to schools. The Administration intends for these masks to support students, teachers and staff in public and private schools that are reopening – with an emphasis on students who are low-income (or otherwise with high needs) and schools providing in-person instruction.

These masks will be allocated according to the share of students from low-income families in each state. The cloth face masks will be distributed in two shipments, starting in early September 2020.

Additional information on Cloth Face Masks in Schools and State Allocations: Cloth Face Masks in Schools can be found on ASPR’s public facing website.

Pennsylvania Census 2020 Updates

Pennsylvania Census Completion Map for August 2020

  • A recent article by NPR highlights how changes to operational timelines may limit the ability for the U.S. Census Bureau to adequately review the data, possibly affecting the data’s accuracy.
  • The U.S. Census Bureau announced a new survey, the 2020 Census User Experience Survey, which will measure how satisfied respondents were with their experience using the online questionnaire.
  • According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s daily 2020 Census housing unit completion rates, over 73% of housing units have been accounted for in the 2020 Census.
  • The U.S. Census Bureau recently released a presentation providing updates for their operational planning and how the Bureau is adapting operations to ensure a complete and accurate count by December 31, 2020.
  • Follow response rates to the 2020 Census with the U.S. Census Bureau’s Response Rates page. Or check out the Hard To Count 2020 tool created by SUNY’s Center for Urban Research which has a variety of other useful data in addition to response rates.
  • Avoid fraud and scams related to the 2020 Census by reviewing these tips from the U.S. Census Bureau.