Multiple states turned dark orange seven weeks ago, it means that an onset of ILI is expected to have occurred 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. The Early Warning System worked in these states in terms of detecting an onset of ILI 4-6 weeks in advance. Some false alarms (or warnings) may have occurred in a subset of states.