What is the delay in ILINet case reporting?

Question

In the "Opening Up America Again" White House presentation they showed this graph

How up-to-date is that precipitous drop though we can see there?

I found the relevant CDC page (there's a similar graph half-way down the pretty long page), but they don't mention any delay in ILINet reporting, unlike e.g. NVSS death reporting.

So, is it really the case that in the US as soon you go to a primary care physician, the CDC gets your influenza-like illness case report immediately, e.g. on the same or at most the next day? If not, what's the delay in reporting cases through ILINet?

Answer 1

The data is collected over a week long period of people presenting with influenza like symptoms and reported once a week by fax or internet. Clearly there will be a delay of some type if reporting is significant by fax.

ILINet providers report each week the total number of patients seen for any reason and the number of patient visits for ILI by age group (0-4 years, 5-24 years, 25-49 years, 50-64 years, >64 years).

This data is transmitted once a week via the Internet or fax to a central data repository at CDC. Most providers report that it takes them less than 30 minutes a week to compile & report their data. In addition, ILINet providers collect respiratory specimens from patients with ILI to send to the Missouri State Public Health Laboratory for testing.

https://health.mo.gov/living/healthcondiseases/communicable/influenza/pdf/ilinet-program-description.pdf