The route to a complete count on the 2020 census in Hampshire and Franklin counties hit a road bump with COVID-19.

The outbreak and subsequent orders by Gov. Charlie Baker to stay home and avoid other people came just as the census ramped up for most Americans two weeks ago. “Of all of our worst nightmares of things that could have gone wrong with the census, we did not anticipate this set of actions,” said Al Fontenot of the U.S. Census Bureau.

With field operations suspended by the Census Bureau until at least April 15, and in-person events and “census clinics” canceled, it will be difficult to count the homeless population, college students who have already gone home, nursing home residents and other “hard-to-count” communities.

That leaves local advocates hopeful that online efforts, coupled with stay-at-home mandates, may lead to greater census participation when combined with door-to-door canvassing once it’s safe to do so. We hope they are right, because the information gathered every 10 years is crucial to the state and every one of its 351 communities.

“This virus, hopefully, will last no more than a few months,” said Laurie Millman, executive director of the Center for New Americans. “But the results of the census will be with us for 10 years.”

Census data is used to determine each state’s congressional apportionment and districting. The count also helps the federal government divvy up $675 billion per year for schools, hospitals, roads and other programs, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

As of Tuesday, 38.4% of all U.S. households had completed the survey, while 40.3% of Massachusetts residents had done so. Closer to home, 46.4% of Hampshire County residents and 43.8% of Franklin County residents have filled out the census, nearly all of them online.

Participation in Hampshire County communities looks like this: Granby, 56.2%; Pelham, 55.5%; Southampton, 52.3%; Hadley, 51.7%; South Hadley and Belchertown, 51.3%; Westhampton, 50.8%; Easthampton, 49.6%, Northampton, 45.5%; Hatfield, 44.5%; Amherst, 44.1%; Holyoke, 37.8%; Plainfield, 37.6%; Williamsburg, 36.4%; Worthington, 35.3%; Cummington, 34.9%; Huntington, 33.6%; Goshen, 20.6%; Chesterfield, 16.4%.

And in southern Franklin county, it’s Deerfield, 52%; Sunderland 50.2%; Leverett, 49.1%; Shutesbury, 40.9%; and Whately 33.6%.

You can track your community’s self-response rate at bit.ly/2Uv9dUA.

Residents are understandably leery of opening the door to a census taker. You can avoid a visit come late spring or summer by responding either online, by phone or by mail.

For more information about the 2020 U.S. Census and how to respond, visit census.gov.