Graphs showing emergency department visits for Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) and/or COVID-19-Like Illness (CLI) as a percentage of total visits can be highly misleading.
The following CDC graph serves as a good example:
It makes it look like emergency department utilization went up when in fact it went down.
I downloaded the data table still available on the internet archive and created a more honest data visualization.
Additionally, by definition ILI is a subset of CLI, meaning that there will always be more CLI than ILI.
"ILI is defined as
fever (temperature of 100.4 degrees F [37.8 degrees C] or greater)
AND a cough
AND/OR a sore throat without a known cause."
“COVID-19 like illness is described as
new onset of subjective or measured (≥100.4F or 38.0C) fever
OR cough
OR shortness of breath
OR sore throat that cannot be attributed to an underlying or previously recognized condition. ”
CDC: Emergency Department Visits Percentage of Visits for COVID-19-Like Illness (CLI) or Influenza-like Illness (ILI)
https://web.archive.org/web/20230128084041/https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/covidview/08072020/covid-like-illness.html
Health Alert # 6
COVID-19 Updates for New York City
https://www.nyc.gov/assets/doh/downloads/pdf/han/alert/2020/covid-19-03152020.pdf
US NAVY COVID-19 STANDARDIZED OPERATIONAL GUIDANCE VERSION 3.1
https://web.archive.org/web/20201203083538/https://www.navy.mil/Resources/NAVADMINs/Message/Article/2407046/us-navy-covid-19-standardized-operational-guidance-version-31/
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