The Census Bureau faced enormous hurdles in transforming the census for the digital age. The coronavirus epidemic upended a huge part of its plans.

WASHINGTON — This was the year the Census Bureau was primed for a gargantuan task — remaking the census of nearly 330 million Americans for the digital age at a time of enormous national division and obstacles to an accurate count.

Then came the coronavirus.

Early indications are that the first part of the process — getting as many Americans as possible to respond via the census website,