A late data update isn't an API outage
Pulse separates whether the API answers requests from whether its background data updates are on time.
A status page needs to answer the question that brought someone there. If your API request is failing, you want to know whether the service is down. A background update running late is useful information, but it answers a different question.
I changed /pulse so the main status follows the API's health check. Data freshness has its own row. If requests are working but a data update is overdue, the page can say Operational and still show the delayed update.
That isn't permission to ignore stale data. An API can be available while the information it serves needs attention. Putting both signals on the page makes that situation visible without making the reader infer what a single red heading means.
This gives the page a consistent meaning when something needs attention. Down means the API check couldn't get through. Delayed on the data row means a background update is late. Those situations need different follow-up, so they should be readable as different situations.