Episode Transcript
Speaker 3 00:27 Hello, welcome back to Somali link radio. This is, that could be here today. We have a beautiful weather. It's getting way much better. But as you all are aware of the situation that the whole world is going through, we are talking about today, we have great two important topics. One is U S census. Every 10 years the whole country gets counted and we'll talk about why do we have to get counted and the history of it. We are very honored to have experts on the matter. We have Andrew Bergen from the state of Minnesota that will give us the background of the us census and also we have gene higher from Hennepin County on the line. We are also talking about carpet 19 Corbett 19 or chronic virus, um, has been a disaster throughout the world as impacted. Our lives were created so much hardship for everyone. So many people lost jobs. Uh, so many people wanted to get resources. How did we do? What is, what is, what are the stats of the chronic virus regulations we know are, it's kind of softening, uh, what is opening in the city or the County or in the state? What's not orbiting right now? All that confusion will be able to be cleared. We're going to have a chat with some experts on that matter. First of all, I want to welcome my guests. I can see Andrew, I, Andrew,
Speaker 0 02:07 they're big. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 02:09 And uh, I think gene and Samsung and also, uh, Dave Johnson who is the, uh, EBD urologist for Hennepin County will be joining us soon. Um, Andrew, um, I want to say thank you very much. I was really surprised about the amount of history you have of the us census and what w what people of color and many people in many communities in this country, uh, or who are under counted, um, uh, went through. Give us a background of the, the history of the us census. Before we go back down to the specifics why and how it is very important for all our communities to get counted.
Speaker 0 02:55 Excellent. Biggie. Thank you very much for again, thank you for having me and appreciate, I appreciate the question. So the, uh, a count of all persons living in the United States is something that's been in the us constitution and it has been required of our country every year since 1790. Uh, so it goes all the way back to the time of George Washington that we need to get a count. Uh, this is literally in the, uh, article one, section two of the constitution, and it says there must be a count of all people who live in the country. Uh, now the definition of who is a person and who counts has changed over time. But that basic, that basic rule has not changed. Um, the reason it's important for us to know, uh, how many people are in the country is, uh, one, it's about political power so that there's, uh, appropriate power, uh, for each state.
Speaker 0 03:46 It also means that within a state that the, uh, our state representatives that our state representatives are representing about the same number of people. Uh, it's about us. So that affects you whether we're talking about your state Senator or your state. Um, our representative, it's important for your city council members. We want to make sure that all the city council members have equal sized districts in terms of population. Uh, this information is also used for schools, for school districts and such. So a lot of very important things come up that, uh, finally this information that, that, uh, that the census derives, uh, it's used, it's used by nonprofits. It's used by nonprofits to determine where the people that they serve live and where they might, um, uh, uh, provide services to. Uh, and finally, this information is also used very heavily by the business community in order to determine, uh, where we should put grocery stores or where should we put bus stops or, uh, where should we put the train?
Speaker 0 04:47 Um, so I would say that the census affects us every moment of, of our lives. Every from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep, it determines how long do you have to wait for a bus? Uh, our, how has the public services in your neighborhood or your children's schools as good as other people's, um, are there good paying jobs in your neighborhood? Is it easy to get to those places? Uh, and do you have representatives, government who is, um, uh, uh, who is, who's there to, to represent you? Um, so, uh, very, very important that we get this right, of course, because we only get to do this once every 10 years. Uh, we have to make sure that we get, uh, we get a fair and accurate count. Uh, of course, this doesn't actually happen. Uh, although Minnesota performs very, very well for the census historically. Uh, there are, um, many people who do get missed. Uh, and, and that is, uh, that's what keeps me up at night. Um, that's what keeps our partners up at night thinking about who are these people, where do they live and how do we reach them? How do we get them to complete the census? Uh, because, uh, because it's in their benefit that they do. So,
Speaker 3 06:00 yes. Uh, I have a lot of questions about the timeline and how that was affected by the covet 19 and things kind of scaled back to different timeline and how the census was, the approach was to first send our letters with a code so people can use that code to get counted online. Then the Backpage that you get the forms to fail. Then there were, there were other Methodists finally having people sent it to those apartments or houses that didn't get counted. But before we go there, I would love to you to talk about that history when it's slavery time when the South and the North were debating about who gets counted, who was human or not. I was fascinated about that history. It was the first time ever to hear that when you were, uh, actually, um, where there Kamow J radio. I was fascinated by that piece of, of history, how it, how it got started.
Speaker 0 07:05 Sure. So very famously, so I'm a history major, so this is a great interest to me as well. Very famously, there's something you can call to three-fifths compromise. So this was back, uh, back in the 17 hundreds, uh, there were States with, uh, slaves and States without slaves. And so the question was, okay, if we're going to count all people who counts as a person. And so the Southern slaveholders of course, wanted their slaves counted for their political power. Um, although they did not want them treated as, as, as human. Um, and the North did not want the slaves counted because they did not want the South to have disproportionate political power because they had, uh, they had so many slaves. So the, the compromise that was made was, was called the three fifths compromise. It said that slaves would count as three fifths of a human being.
Speaker 0 07:58 Think about that for a second. While a human being a slave, it was only three fifths of a human. So that means for every five slaves that the South had, it counted the same as, as, as, as three free people. So, uh, this is part of the, um, part of the history of a history of the United States, uh, the part of the legacy of slavery that that's, um, yeah, it was just part of, part of, part of our history. Um, some very interesting information. Um, if, if, if you're interested about, uh, kind of the, the, the, the way that we talk about race in our country, it's a very interesting way to look at an each census, which racial categories are included and which ones are not. Uh, and, and what we, what, what terms we used. Right. So for, for very recently, the term Negro was still used on the census and then it was black and an African American and now African or African American. So there's been a
Speaker 4 08:55 slow evolution of, of the change of our, of our understanding of race. Same with indigenous people. Uh, same with Asians. Um, there's been a, uh, over the, since 1798, eight change in the way that we see ourselves or the way we describe ourselves. I would say that the census is not a leading indicator, but rather a trailing one. Um, it's uh, not necessarily progressive in its, in, in the way it looks, uh, that way it looks at these things. But you can look back at this as a historical document to see, ah, at what point did we go from, uh, being called Negro to, uh, to African-American, um, or indigenous people or you know, when were African-Americans counted as people, old people. Um, so this is part of the fascinating history behind the sense.
Speaker 3 09:43 Um, there was also, um, the, the, the, the brism, uh, population. Uh, I remember you mentioned that the small town is with Britain, uh, with prisons in their, in their communities. Uh, the, all the inmates in that prison gets counted as part of that small town rather than where they come from.
Speaker 4 10:09 That's correct. That's correct. Now that's interesting though, cause that's not a federal law that mandates that, uh, although most States do in fact count prisoners where they are being held as opposed to where they are from. Um, but States have the power to be able to reverse this. Uh, New York state has now reversed that. So if you, if someone is incarcerated and being held by the state of New York or by the city, by the city of New York or a County of Westchester, uh, they are not in fact counted where they're being held. They're counted where they came from before they were incarcerated. So, uh, yes, but this does, this does explain why, um, uh, many rural places, many small towns are, uh, fight to get prisons in their area. Uh, it has to do with, um, you know, these are, these are, they get the, they get the political power still water or st, cloud or moose Lake. Uh, they get the political power that comes from these inmates being there. They get the jobs for the, uh, for the, uh, the bards who were there. Um, but they don't have to provide services to these people because the meals are being provided, the healthcare is being provided, all of this is being provided by the state. So, uh, is, is very much in their, um, in their favor to have bath people counted who, who basically can't vote for them or can't vote against them. So this is, this is very challenging.
Speaker 3 11:37 So what is the benefit of getting counted as a breast center in that, that this small town that hosted the prison are really benefiting from the, from the inmates?
Speaker 4 11:51 So here's a great example. So on the basis of the census count, the federal government distributes about $880 billion a year. Minnesota is portion of that is about 15 and a half billion dollars. That's on a per capita basis. On a per person basis. It's $2,796 per person per year, almost $28,000 per person per decade. So for that small town, uh, counting additional people means additional resources that come to them from the federal government. It may also mean additional resources that comes to them from st Paul that's state money. There may also be additional resources that comes to them from their counties. They from Stearns County may provide extra money to st cloud because st cloud has this extra population who can't vote and can't move about freely. So it's, it's a, uh, this is, this is part of the reason why the stakes are so high, uh, for these, uh, rural, largely rural communities to fight so hard to, to have these facilities in their, uh, in their territory.
Speaker 3 12:57 So the free world, the people who are not inmates, uh, and we are trying now here to have a chat about, uh, the importance of getting counted. It's like the inmates, all of us, if we get counted each person for example, I get counted, I and my family get counted and each number, each person will bring how much for each year to the state,
Speaker 4 13:24 2,700, $96. So it's, it's, it's 15 and a half billion dollars comes to the state of Minnesota overall. That's 2,700, $96 per person or almost $28,000 per person, per person per decade. Um, so, um, we're talking about real money. Uh, again, that does not include money that, that st Paul also appropriates. And of course, the legislature just finished yesterday. They appropriate money on the basis of, of your population. Your County also appropriates money on the basis of population. Even your city may appropriate money within the city on the basis of that count. So, um, uh, there's, uh, $28,000 per person per decade I would say is a very conservative estimate.
Speaker 3 14:09 Okay. Right now we are in the middle of, um, getting counted every 10 years, uh, since 1700. Um, the population of the United States of America, each County, each city, each state gets counted. So the resources should be appropriated to the right people because helping how big and small that fabulation could be in counties, in cities and other States. And I have, um, uh, Andrew Bergen from the state of Minnesota who's also historian and also has a lot of history, uh, about the census. Uh, Andrew, we were at, um, um, uh, I also have a gin higher from Hennepin County, which I'm actually working directly with to help, uh, getting East African Kimmy counted. And uh, we also are going to talk about the covet, the 19 that is really, uh, impacting our lives so harshly. And there are a lot of change that's taken place by our governor, new guidelines and um, a lot of people are confused.
Speaker 3 15:18 They don't know what's going to be up in or not or what save it meshes we'll be using if those places have been. And also on top of that, a lot of Muslim population in the community are concerned and I want to know clear message from the state and the County about eat holidays and eat holiday. Usually a lot of people are surprised when I say, uh, the Somali community celebrates, uh, places like mall of America, camps newbie and that fatty fair because it's about the children. It's about the families, about happiness. Uh, last eat I think about 30,000 or 35,000, on average. Each holiday shows up only at mall of America. That's hugely crowded. So we want to know to continue to be safe. We were safe enough. This is very serious that we close down our mosques in our Ramadan and they stayed at home for the sake of our, all of us to be healthy and stay safe. So we'll talk about that with the help of um, uh, our, uh, Hennepin County, uh, epidemiologist, Dave Johnson, who's also on the line. Um, Andrew, why is it important for every one of us in the state of Minnesota to get counted?
Speaker 4 16:46 Oh, that's a great question. I mean, it really comes down to three things is about, it's about political power that all of us deserve. That we deserve as much political power here in Minnesota, in Washington, D C and within the state of Minnesota, we deserved political power. And within Hennepin County, we deserve equal power. One person, one vote concept within the city of Minneapolis. We all deserve equal political power and equal political representation. So that's, that's number one. Number two, it's about, it's about money. We talked about this before the break, how much money is at stake here? So it's about making sure that each of us, that we all receive our fair share of the resources. We're talking about resources from the federal government. We're talking about resources from the state of Minnesota, which are my resources from Hennepin County. And we're talking about resources from the city of Minneapolis or wherever you live.
Speaker 4 17:34 Uh, finally we're talking about good data. Data is very, very important. It's very, uh, for policy makers to make good decisions, requires good data, and so we must all be counted in order for them to be, to make good decisions. So, um, or example, uh, according, according to the census Bureau, uh, there's about 75,000 or so Somalis in the entire state of Minnesota. Now my Somali friends laugh at that number and say, well, that numbers may be half of what the real number is. Um, so what's, what is the policy implications of that? Well, that means that if the state of Minnesota does not know how many Somalis there actually are in our state or of Hennepin County, does not know how many Somalis there are, or the city of Minneapolis does not know how many Somalis there are. And it's very difficult for the government to say, okay, how many Somali ELL instructors do we need? How many Somali translators do we need for the government center? How many translators do we need for the school system? Right? So there's how many, how many trainers do we need for Somali job training programs, right?
Speaker 4 18:53 Or healthcare. Right. Exactly. So, and this is not unique to the East African population that I would say that all of the immigrant populations that the number is not correct. Uh, the, the question is how not correct is the number and, and it means the real really issues. It explains, for example, why a Somali family might have to wait longer for a translator. If there is there an HCMC or Hennepin health, then they have to wait for a doctor and, or, or why are there not enough, um, uh, AIDS in the, in the schools, we're able to, uh, provide translation services between the parents and the parents and the teachers, uh, who are concerned about, uh, the, the, the growth and development, uh, on the educational side of their children. Right? So it's very, very important that we get these, that we get these numbers right, that we get the count. Right. And of course, because we only do this every once every 10 years, uh, we must live with our mistake for the next decade. So it's very important that we get this right this time.
Speaker 3 20:01 Yeah. Uh, welcome Jean. Hire, uh, Jean hire. Um, you all have been, uh, coordinating, uh, from the County level, um, with the R team, Kelsey and everyone, uh, and us who work with you about engaging the community to get counted. Tell me were, what's your, uh, where things are right now?
Speaker 5 20:26 Um, the overall rate in the nation, which I don't know if Andrew gave us at the top of the hour. Andrew, what's the national rate? 63%. Is it, I don't have to today
Speaker 4 20:37 15, 59.6 is the, uh, is the national number and Minnesota is at 69.7, so we are, uh, over 10% higher than that than uh, than the national average. We're number one.
Speaker 5 20:52 Yeah. Minnesota is first in the country and Hennepin County is doing very well, but unfortunately we know historically that there are certain communities that are missing out. And uh, one of the communities by zip code is the Cedar Riverside area. There's an area, um, in Richfield that is lower represented, having a lower response rate. And there are some other pockets, um, in South st Louis Park and Eden Prairie where we are missing, uh, people are not completing the census and it may be because the census is available in English and Spanish and there are not versions available in Somali, Hmong and Oromo and some other languages. So people need assistance completing it. And hopefully the work we're doing with our outreach teams can help people get the census completed.
Speaker 3 21:43 Thank you Jean. And I remember the, to you and others about the first initial stage where, uh, the coat was sent in an envelope, uh, on the top of it, it had the look of a chunk mail and almost everybody in my neighbors I live in, see the Riverside told us they threw it away. They didn't know it because it did not have, it's their name on it.
Speaker 5 22:09 And the reason it doesn't have the name as, as we know is because, um, the, the government doesn't have, that, doesn't have access to the names to send them to them individually and people, households individually. And so the mailing did go out and many people did not respond to the mailing. But the good news is people can go online and it's, uh, my sense is, uh, 2020 back. That was that right Andrew? Sorry, I don't have it right in front of me. My 2020 census dot up. Andrew, sorry,
Speaker 4 22:38 my 2020 census.gov that's correct. Yep, yep. Go ahead Andrew. That's right. There's also a toll. There's also a toll free number that people can call their information into as well. But again, uh, both the online version, the paper version and the phone version, there is not a Somali language option, uh, which I, I believe certainly contributes to the lower response rate. To that point, the United States as self response rate is at 59.6%. This is as of yesterday, Minnesota is at 69.7% and have been County is at 73.8% Minneapolis is at 67.2% and the census tract that Jean is referring to in Cedar Riverside is 40.8%. That's so it's a big gap. It's a big gap.
Speaker 3 23:31 Yeah. Uh, uh, gene, do you think, uh, because of <inaudible>, uh, I think that one of the plants were service centers were supposed to be, we used to go like Brian coil or other oral or see the Riverside opportune center or the Hennepin County libraries. People were supposed to go there if they needed help on, they get assistance to get counted. Do you think that that has, um, that is one of the challenges?
Speaker 5 23:57 Yes, I do. I do think that's a challenge. Um, we had, Hennepin County had worked with the libraries and all of our service centers so that there would have been more than 60 questionnaire assistance centers where people could have gone and had help completing their census. There would have been a computer there and people could have helped. And then in many cases there would have been someone who spoke Somali, um, at those locations. And now that's not an option because of Kopin 19, since the libraries are closed and the service centers are just beginning to reopen, uh, and we're trying to physically distance ourselves so that we don't, uh, get sick. And so we need to find other ways, uh, to help. One of the things we're doing is we are doing phone banks through Andrew's office in the state of Minnesota and we will be reaching out to, um, Somali households for names of people that we have. And so the one thing that be here, we could work with you and other community organizations is if there's ways we could get phone numbers for households. We do have a staff available who speaks Somali and Oromo who, who can help people complete the census over the phone.
Speaker 3 25:14 That's absolutely a unique way and I'll be more than happy to help out with that because that's really, um, takes a lot of burden off us because when we can, when we get the numbers and we can give it to you. So, so those people call them and help them if they speak Oromo or Somali, that would be really, uh, give 'em a dent in the, uh, the loan numbers.
Speaker 5 25:40 And, and I could tell you another story that Andrew knows as well. One of our callers from Hennepin County spoke to a family that I believe was Somali just in the last week or two. And um, one of the parents was on the line and, uh, was not fluent in English and they put a, I believe it was their son or daughter on the phone who was in high school. I'm pretty sure it was a boy. And he talked to the family and our caller, her name was Maddie, she worked with the boy and she, that he had his computer there and she walked through all of the census questions with him. It only takes maybe 10 minutes for a small family. And um, so then they were indeed able to complete the census with her assistance. That's an amazing story.
Speaker 0 26:29 <inaudible> I want to, I want to point out there, there are a couple or a couple organizations, uh, in particular that are doing great work, uh, with, with respect to the census. Uh, not just in Minneapolis and handover County, but around the state. Um, three of them being it's a ruin, a tacho and, and care, um, and all three of whom are doing great work with the census, helping promote awareness of the census and also helping people fill out their form. So that's another, uh, another chance for people to, uh, get assistance to fill out their forms.
Speaker 3 26:59 That's a, it's a wrong care. And what is the third organization? Is room care and also Asha, also Tasha. Oh, sure. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. It's good to know. And I know that'll hit mosque either. Riverside has a lot of awareness. Unfortunately the mosque is closed. That was a big help. Or the mosques were really interested on where they were partners with all of us to actually on Friday congregation tell people, um, they helped us to really recruit, um, um, um, uh, counters people who go out there and come people. Uh, so it's unfortunate that's not, um, um, an option now. Um, and after we are we going to here, I think we are going to hear a message, but when we come back I wanna talk about a little bit more about um, the census and the community and what can we do. All of us as neighbors are listening.
Speaker 3 27:59 Um, I know my friend yam Mohamad was one of the people, uh, helped me to do a video in Somali and he's been asking people to, uh, encourage him like the story chin higher told me about Melinda to, if you can't do it, ask your children to translate for you to help you with it. And that's really a huge resource. Young people being the translators, the interpreters. So I think that's a great idea. We're about to wrap up on a us census, but before I do that, I want to talk about equally as important, uh, element of the U S census as getting counted. A lot of people, Andrew and Jean worry about the privacy. Some people are afraid of government is some people are afraid. If this information is going also into the hands of the landlords or the police department or, or whatever, the branch of government or the landlord. Tell us about the, both of you. Help us understand or clarify the privacy side of the us census information.
Speaker 0 29:07 That's an excellent question. Biggie and one that comes up quite a lot. Um, the fact of the matter is, is your individual information and the information you provide about yourself and your household, this information is confidential for a period of 72 years. That means that this information will not be released. The 2020 census will not be released until the year 2092. Uh, I expect that I will no longer be part of this earth. Uh, and that happens. So, uh, it's very, very important that, that, that people participate. But when you point to a very important thing, which is that the fear of the census, the fear of government, the fear of participating in the census is not limited to just the government. Oftentimes, uh, you know, some in some communities, people are concerned and I'm worried about giving my information to the government. Uh, I may not have legal status in the United States.
Speaker 0 29:59 I may not be documented. I might not be authorized to be here. And so that fear is, is understandable. Um, but for many people, the fear is actually more of the landlord. Uh, the city of Minneapolis says a two bedroom apartment. You can only have five people. Well, in, in many immigrant families, there may be three generations living in one household, also still living in a two bedroom, two bedroom apartment, perhaps a Riverside towers, right? Riverside Plaza and Cedar Riverside. Um, but they have more than, more than, more than it's permitted on the lease. So the fear of, of a family completing the form completely inaccurately may be more about, I'm concerned my landlord will find out. I have too many people. And if they find out, they may kick me out because I have too many people. Or they may say you need to rent another apartment and if you have to rent two apartments now it's, uh, now it's absolutely unaffordable.
Speaker 0 30:55 Um, also for people who may be receiving government programs, say section eight or public housing, there may be a cap, uh, a ceiling on how much money you can earn in order to be able to live in, in a given property. And so if you were to admit that your adults working age children also live in the house, also live in the household and you make too much money to live in this place and you're no longer qualified for public housing or you no longer qualify for a section eight voucher. And so that is a concern of people as well. So, um, I certainly understand why people have those fears, but it is, it's important for people to know that um, uh, your, your information is personal and private and confidential for 72 years. Now, information that will be released, uh, much sooner than that will be information on the aggregate. So this would be neighborhood level information. This would be city level information. This would be County level information. This many people live in Cedar Riverside. This many people live in Minneapolis. This many people live in Hennepin County or the state of Minnesota. But it will not say that be he lives in Cedar Riverside in this apartment building, in this apartment in here's how many people live in this house.
Speaker 5 32:09 John wanted to say too that um, your, your, uh, your boss doesn't have access to the information. Uh, it's not, uh, the individual household information is not, uh, shared, uh, for 72 years. While that's correct. So just to be clear, the, the only information available is there are, uh, 5,000, um, uh, or a mall is speaking by ablation communities. Either there, they're
Speaker 3 32:40 about 10,000 or 15,000 of this community live in this area. Not specifically like be he lives there at that apartment,
Speaker 5 32:49 correct? Correct. And a census take care takes and when they get their job, if they count, if they come and count a household, they take an oath when they're hired by the us census Bureau that they can not share the information. Um, it would, there's a fee there could be a fine of $250,000 or five years in jail. So it's considered very serious. So you should not, they do not share the information.
Speaker 4 33:15 And, and in fact, if I can, if I can tag to that, uh, the, the oath that the census taker takes is a lifetime oath. They can never divulge the information that they learned about a particular, about a particular household ever. Uh, yeah. And it's five years in federal prison or $250,000 fine. So, um, uh, they're very true.
Speaker 3 33:38 So we can say all our information, whether we are illegal, what's called illegal or no, uh, legal papers to stay in the country or I am fugitive from child support or I am, um, uh, stay in illegally in that apartment or building or house. So all that information, I'm safe. I'm safe to do the us census.
Speaker 4 34:01 That's correct. It doesn't matter if you're behind on your taxes or behind on your child support or you have a lien against you, uh, you have a lien against you. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what you have a criminal record, it doesn't, all of this does not matter. That and that information is, is private for 72 years.
Speaker 3 34:20 And I have this question, uh, some of my friends ask it about, they see some parts of Minnesota like Minneapolis waiting for a low income apartment or affordable housing or section eight could take years, but in some other parts of the state or some other parts in the near States, it's way quicker. And we have noticed that families move into that area in order to get affordable housing. Not that they love to stay there. Is it because of the number of the census has anything to do with this? Like the last census saying, well enough people black say it's only 75,000 people counted from this community, not 150,000. Is that something that can also be in the part of the planning if people get counted?
Speaker 5 35:06 Yes. So if, if we, if we, if more people are accounted, then there could federally be more resources available for low income housing in Minneapolis. And so, and uh, that's why it's so important that we increase the response rate of people living in the city of Riverside area, in parts of Eden Prairie and parts of st Louis Park as, as we're talking about the Metro area. Yeah.
Speaker 4 35:32 So, so be here, you know, there are certain categories of people who are more to be missed
Speaker 0 35:38 than others. Yeah. Right. So the census Bureau estimates that Minnesota, that 17.7% of our population in Minnesota will not self respond to the census form. That means that 965,000 people in Minnesota will not complete their form. And it in county's share of that is 230,000 and the city of Minneapolis could miss as many as 95,000 almost 96,000 while the 10% of the state of Minnesota would be missed just in the state of Maine, just in the city of Minneapolis. And, and the demographics of these people are, are the following renters more likely to be missed? In fact, being a renter is the number one predictor of whether you'll be missed by the census. There's over 1.3 million renters in the state of Minnesota. And so renters are more likely to be missed. Um, racial and ethnic minorities over 1 million live in Minnesota, they are more likely to be missed. Um, uh, children under the age of five, 350
Speaker 4 36:40 thousands of there are 350,000 children under age five, and they are also more likely to be missed college students, over 300,000 college students in the state of Minnesota. They are also more likely to be missed. There are many other many other people as well. Um, uh, native and indigenous people, non native English speakers, people experiencing homelessness, people who are undocumented, people with mental or physical disabilities, uh, people who do not live in traditional housing. Um, uh, lots of different categories of, of people who are, um, historically missed, uh, by the census. So yes, improving our count of all of these people means we get more federal resources, we get more state resources and so we can pay for things like better schools, better roads, better healthcare, better jobs. Um, all, all of this, all of this comes from the census.
Speaker 5 37:33 And B, we have a snake here in Somali. It's an, it's available in many languages, a census brochure that is available in Somali and Oromo I know that you have copies and that a dual FIKI from our team also has copies that we've been distributing, um, to uh, the East African families. So I don't know if you want to mention that.
Speaker 3 37:56 Yes, I have seen it. Abdul gave it to me, a huge box full of them and every day I take with me and also I want to say thank you. You aren't guilty from Hennepin County. You all those items you gave us for, for the, um, uh, the masks, uh, really helped me, uh, reach out to the elders. Uh, the weather is getting better, so a lot of 'em are just walking around. So to reach out to people with brochures, with information about, uh, covet to stay safe and as well as more information with those brochures, uh, about the us census in Somali and aroma and uh, yes, those brochures really are and explain a lot of stuff, uh, or the questions we are talking about right now. So it's very useful right now. Um, moving on to uh, talk to uh, Dave chancellor and he is the BDO mulches. I'm not saying I'm with Hennepin County and we want to talk about covet. I know I'm working with Jean and Kelsey, uh, to reach out to the community to get all those safe materials, uh, education brochures. Um, I am surprised at how the County that our local clinics, our landlords in the high rises and our city and everyone stayed. We are working together on sharing those resources to keep all of us safe. Welcome. Um, Mr. Johnson. Hi. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 6 39:20 I also wanted to introduce a Samsung I D do you remember who was with me here as well from our community engagement, uh, covert task force here. So, um, she's available as well to answer some questions about our work in the community.
Speaker 3 39:33 Hi, Samsung. Hi. How are you, Alec from salon. Thank you for coming on too. Yes, I do know Samsung and we appreciate all the worksheets you went with us to tell us, uh, you and send some people are talking about the new guidelines. First of all, what the numbers are. Are the numbers going up? Are the numbers going down nationwide stayed white County wide. City wide.
Speaker 6 39:55 Yeah. Um, statewide, we're at more than 16,000 cases in the state with the 700 deaths. I mean, it hasn't been County. Our case count is almost 5,500 cases, uh, probably will pass that number. Uh, today we have almost 500 deaths. And so, uh, we're, we're watching because the cases are increasing. One of the reasons that we're seeing the cases increase is that we're having more testing happening in the community and that, and that's a good thing because that's letting people know their status. Early on in this outbreak, we didn't have as much access to testing and so it was very hard. Um, if you had symptoms that I actually in the early days I had a cough and I couldn't be evaluated at a doctor because I hadn't been traveling and um, so people weren't sure and there was a lot of um, disease that was happening in the community that wasn't being diagnosed. So or recently we've seen a testing increase and because the tests are increasing, we're also thinking that we're going to see the cases to continue to increase for some time. Right now
Speaker 3 40:53 where do we stand in the country? A lot of people in the community say we are one of the best States with less deaths. Is that true?
Speaker 6 41:02 We've been, we've been trying to compare ourselves to other similar sized counties. And I would say early on in the outbreak we were comparing very favorably to uh, some other peer counties. More recently I think we've seen our cases going up and we've seen our deaths going up. In particular, we've had some tragedies happening in our longterm care facilities where elderly people who are being housed in congregate care facilities being cared for with nursing care. We're experiencing a lot of cases. And unfortunately a lot of deaths, we have also seen an increase in community spread as well. And um, so we're, we're really monitoring very closely to see what's happening in our community and understanding who's who's most at risk. But I think what we can say right now is that at this point there's widespread community transmission and we should think of ourselves all as being at risk of getting Colvin when we're out and about in our communities.
Speaker 6 41:53 And we really need to be taking the governor's guidance seriously. It's very important that we continue to be cautious. Um, even though the regulations are changing, we need to continue to be cautious and not think that there's not a risk just because the regulations have changed. Thank you. And sometime is there any message that you would like to share with the community? Yeah, I guess <inaudible> to everybody. Um, I know the skiers hasn't been the most exciting due to covert and everything like that, but I do want to emphasize how important it is for us to take care of our elders and our parents and our grandparents. So the seed, if we can try to limit the amount of contact we have within our own community to lessen the burden that Kobe has been causing, that'd be greatly appreciated. And Charlotte, the next aid, we're going to all come together when the restrictions are lifted.
Speaker 3 42:44 Thank you. So some of you mentioned a very important word, eat, eat, which is a big Islamic holiday that we celebrate really in big groups. Uh, Dave and Samsung. What kind of for new guidelines should we have clearly tell the community, uh, the work we do with gene and Kelsey on, um, <inaudible> and all the mosques we know. What kind of a message should we take out there about the upcoming eat?
Speaker 6 43:13 Yes. Um, I can start, uh, I'll, I'll exams I'm jumping too, but, um, we do want to emphasize that the governor did, uh, lift the strict stay at home orders. And, uh, now the guidance is that people, um, can gather in groups of 10 or less, um, however people who are at highest risk of disease. And that includes, uh, the elderly as well as people with underlying health conditions. Um, those folks are, um, encouraged to continue to stay home to protect their health. Um, and so, uh, with the upcoming holiday, um, it's just very important that people be mindful of the fact that, uh, we, we don't want to see large gatherings. Gatherings should be 10 or less. And then also at those gatherings, the social distancing really should be, um, adhere to. So making sure that people stay six feet away from each other, um, as much as, as possible. Um, and, and, and not to have that close contact that we might normally be used to having. So I'm hoping that people can, um, change some of the practices and, um, as AMZ M said, um, that, you know, we'll, we'll be able to enjoy a closer company in days to come. Yeah, I think I agree with all the sentiments that David has said.
Speaker 3 44:29 I think we've got, um, our, uh, uh, our job is cut through the, uh, gene higher and, and Kesly Kelsey. Um, I think that's how the outreach side, uh, to work on that message and continual to actually work on that. We have done an amazing job. That team has done an amazing, uh, Jim and I actually we did work with the high rises. We get sanitized as fix it to, to the elevator is feed. This tensing figure is um, painted on the floor, um, gave away a lot of masters from the County side and um, I think, I think so far in certain high dense area like Cedar Riverside, Carmel area, which is a Lake and bliss Bree, those are buildings. Uh, people are really, uh, is that risk is still at risk, but we will make sure to share those messages. I want to thank Dave Johnson, our uh, <inaudible> Yamaha artist from Hennepin County. I'm honored to have you here and Samsung man and also my team works, uh, uh, lead, um, from Hennepin County to site taskforce, uh, gene higher and as always, David, uh, um, thank you. And I want to also say thank you to at the end of our program. Say thank you to uh, Andrew very much. I love that history of the us census and I hope to see you soon because one hour is not enough. Thank you. Thank you.
