Zigbee2mqtt: what is meaning of "status": "online"|"offline" attribute?

What does “status” attribute in zigbee2mqtt/ zigbee-shepherd in database.db mean? Seems to be produced by zigbee-shepherd or lower, but passed all the way through to Home Assistant via mqtt. Wondering if it is important since it is retained and shipped all the way to HA from birth of device in PAN.

I successfully joined two CentraLite plug devices. But the “status” value is “offline” for all devices in PAN except coordinator:
“status”:“offline”

They both work fine after joining to PAN, adding to devices.js and configuring in HA. Thx!

{
“id”:4,
“type”:“Router”,
“ieeeAddr”:“0x000d6f000xxxxxxx”,
“nwkAddr”:38749,
“manufId”:49887,
“manufName”:“CentraLite”,
“powerSource”:“Mains (single phase)”,
“modelId”:“4257050-RZHAC”,
“epList”:[
1
],
“status”:“offline”,
“joinTime”:null,
“endpoints”:{
“1”:{
“profId”:260,
“epId”:1,
“devId”:256,
“inClusterList”:[
0,
3,
4,
5,
6,
2820,
2821
],
“outClusterList”:[
25
],
“clusters”:{
“genBasic”:{
“dir”:{
“value”:1
},
“attrs”:{
“zclVersion”:1,
“stackVersion”:2,
“hwVersion”:3,
“manufacturerName”:“CentraLite”,
“modelId”:“4257050-RZHAC”,
“dateCode”:“����������������”,
“powerSource”:1
}
},
“genIdentify”:{
“dir”:{
“value”:1
},
“attrs”:{
“identifyTime”:0
}
},
“genGroups”:{
“dir”:{
“value”:1
},
“attrs”:{
“nameSupport”:0
}
},
“genScenes”:{
“dir”:{
“value”:1
},
“attrs”:{
“count”:0,
“currentScene”:0,
“currentGroup”:0,
“sceneValid”:0,
“nameSupport”:0
}
},
“genOnOff”:{
“dir”:{
“value”:1
},
“attrs”:{
“onOff”:0
}
},
“genOta”:{
“dir”:{
“value”:2
},
“attrs”:{

           }
        },
        "haElectricalMeasurement":{  
           "dir":{  
              "value":1
           },
           "attrs":{  
              "measurementType":1,
              "acFrequency":65535,
              "rmsVoltage":0,
              "rmsCurrent":0,
              "activePower":0,
              "acCurrentMultiplier":1,
              "acCurrentDivisor":1000,
              "acPowerMultiplier":1,
              "acPowerDivisor":10
           }
        },
        "haDiagnostic":{  
           "dir":{  
              "value":1
           },
           "attrs":{  
              "macRxBcast":1,
              "macTxBcast":8,
              "macRxUcast":79,
              "macTxUcast":108,
              "macTxUcastRetry":3,
              "macTxUcastFail":0,
              "aPSRxBcast":2,
              "aPSTxBcast":1,
              "aPSRxUcast":29,
              "aPSTxUcastSuccess":25,
              "aPSTxUcastRetry":0,
              "aPSTxUcastFail":0,
              "routeDiscInitiated":0,
              "neighborAdded":3,
              "neighborRemoved":0,
              "neighborStale":0,
              "joinIndication":0,
              "childMoved":0,
              "nwkFcFailure":0,
              "apsFcFailure":0,
              "apsUnauthorizedKey":0,
              "nwkDecryptFailures":2,
              "apsDecryptFailures":0,
              "packetBufferAllocateFailures":0,
              "relayedUcast":0,
              "phyToMacQueueLimitReached":0,
              "packetValidateDropCount":0,
              "averageMacRetryPerApsMessageSent":1,
              "lastMessageLqi":255,
              "lastMessageRssi":-45
           }
        }
     }
  }

},
“_id”:“m8cCh5abciMQf7uH”