Biological & Public Health
Biological Dashboard Card Explained
The Biological card summarizes selected public-health surveillance signals such as wastewater, respiratory illness, hospital admissions, and emergency-department activity when available.
Quick answer / What to check next
Quick answer
The Biological card summarizes selected public-health surveillance signals such as wastewater, respiratory illness, hospital admissions, and emergency-department activity when available.
What this signal means
Public-health surveillance can show broad trends, but it is delayed, aggregated, and not medical advice for individuals.
What to check on HazardNow
Status label, signal count, source confidence, wastewater or respiratory activity, reporting cadence, and coverage notes.
Verify with official source
CDC Wastewater Viral Activity Levels
Quick read
- Useful for
- Public-health surveillance can show broad trends, but it is delayed, aggregated, and not medical advice for individuals.
- Watch
- Status label, signal count, source confidence, wastewater or respiratory activity, reporting cadence, and coverage notes.
- Confirm with
- CDC Wastewater Viral Activity Levels and CDC Respiratory Illnesses
- Remember
- Surveillance data can lag by days or weeks and coverage varies by state and dataset.
What the card summarizes
The Biological card condenses public surveillance datasets into a plain dashboard status. It may include wastewater viral activity, respiratory illness, emergency department, or hospital-admission context depending on what source readings are available.
The purpose is to show broad public-health context that may affect readiness routines, not to diagnose illness or recommend treatment.
Visible hover-card and map-popup metrics
- Value or elevated-area count: how many public-health features meet the current elevated rule for the map layer.
- Severity: a source-normalized label such as Low, Medium, High, or Very High.
- Elevated rule: the popup rule used to flag a feature, commonly High or Very High.
- Source: the contributing family, such as CDC wastewater, respiratory illness, NHSN hospital data, or a public data portal feed.
- Week ending: the reporting-week date, which often lags the current day.
- Value: the source-provided viral activity, respiratory or emergency-department activity, admissions rate, or event count for that layer.
- Coverage: whether the source has broad, limited, or partial geographic coverage; limited coverage lowers confidence.
- Source attribution: the fuller public-source family label shown in detailed context.
- Signal count or active indicators: how many source indicators contribute to the current card state.
- Supplemental popup fields add context but are not patient-level medical advice.
What can make this status change?
- A source reports High or Very High activity for more or fewer areas.
- A new reporting week arrives or an older reading becomes stale.
- Coverage improves or worsens.
- Different source families disagree, which should change confidence rather than be presented as proof of one trend.
Limitations and official verification
- Public-health datasets are delayed, uneven by geography, method-dependent, and subject to revision.
- Wastewater can move before clinical data, while hospital admissions can lag; the metrics should remain distinct.
- Aggregated wastewater, respiratory, emergency-department, and hospital metrics are not individual risk scores.
- Verify recommendations through CDC, state and local health departments, and healthcare professionals.
Sources and update behavior
HazardNow summarizes biological aggregates from public CDC source families. Reporting is usually weekly or delayed, with source-specific lags, revisions, and coverage limitations.
Visual reference
Biological card signal map
Read the signal as one layer in a larger source stack, not as a standalone instruction.
Official sources to verify
Use these links to verify current source text, update timing, and agency caveats.
Last reviewed: . This page explains general preparedness information and does not replace official instructions.
FAQ
Is the Biological card medical advice?
No. It is informational public-health surveillance context only. Consult public-health agencies and healthcare professionals for guidance.
Related terms
Check the live HazardNow dashboard
Use this page to understand Biological card. Use the live dashboard to see current alerts, infrastructure stress, weather, wildfire, travel, public-health, supply-chain, and stability indicators in one place. Focus on Biological, CDC wastewater, respiratory illness in the live view.