Multiple states turned dark orange two weeks ago, meaning that an onset of ILI is expected to occur in the next 2-4 weeks. Lighter oranges mean the EWS is detecting increases in some signals but not enough to trigger an alarm. One should expect this map to become fully orange earlier than the observations (right)
When a state becomes dark orange, it means that an onset of ILI has been detected, and the ILI season has started. Exponential growth of cases is expected to occur. Lighter orange means some noticeable increases in activity are being experienced but not enough to be labelled as an onset.