Government data is disappearing under Trump. Here's what Utahns are losing

• Government data collection is taxpayer-funded, so we're all entitled to use it.

Driving the news: A wide array of government data and reports have become inaccessible through normal channels since Trump directed federal agencies to cull certain topics from agency websites.

• But the order appears to have swept up other information, including previously released census and economic data.

How it works: Trump's orders have focused on climate science, diversity initiatives and health care issues such as HIV prevention and transgender care.

• Yes, but: In carrying out the orders, data has been disappearing and reappearing.

Case in point: Last week, we reported on Utah's use of Ozempic and other weight loss drugs. To compare rates of use, we needed the population of each state.

• But when we went to the Census Bureau's state population tables on Thursday, this is what we found:

Reality check: Do we think the Trump administration deliberately hid population figures — possibly the most basic data in the U.S. government's possession? Not necessarily.

• The tables returned Monday.

Zoom out: A New York Times analysis found that more than 8,000 web pages across federal websites, including 3,000 from the CDC, were removed from Jan. 31 to Feb. 2.

• Some pages returned days later, including information about immunizations and vaccines.
• The Census Bureau website went down Jan. 31 but was back in partial operation last week.

By the numbers: The volume of datasets available through Data.gov has fluctuated since Trump's second term began.

• As of Friday morning, 306,503 datasets were listed — up about 1,000 from a week earlier, but down more than 1,000 from Jan. 19, per the Internet Archive.

Between the lines: Researchers, journalists and public data advocates have been working around the clock to archive existing government datasets for fear they'll be taken down — perhaps forever.

• But those efforts can preserve only previously released data. They don't ensure the government will keep collecting new information, or that it won't tamper with the records it does share.

Zoom in: Last week, we also reported on air pollution from wildfires compared to winter inversions — and quickly downloaded a couple of decades' worth of pollution data, lest the EPA's air quality archives disappear from public view.

Threat level: The sudden disappearance or unreliability of government data jeopardizes business plans, science research, medical developments and more.

• That Trump's orders targeted data around vulnerable groups will make it even harder for researchers, lawmakers and others to understand those populations' makeup and needs.
• And casting even "subtle doubt" on government data "could quietly erode the very foundations of our economy — and our trust in public agencies," journalist Lizzie O'Leary wrote in Slate.

Flashback: In 2019, Trump presented an altered map of Hurricane Dorian's potential path to support his unsubstantiated claim that the storm would affect Alabama. Trump's new pick to head NOAA, Neil Jacobs, went along with the president's claims.

• And in 2020, public health experts balked at a Trump administration decision altering how hospitals' COVID-19 data was collected.

The bottom line: At least some government data will surely still flow — the CDC just posted new maternal mortality numbers, for example, though with a glaring caveat about agency website changes due to Trump's orders.

• Whether we trust government data is another matter, with serious implications.