Multiple states turned dark orange six weeks ago, it means that an onset of ILI is expected to occur now. 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).
Multiple states become 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. The Early Warning System worked in these states in terms of detecting an onset of ILI 4-5 weeks in advance.