Real-world study shows strong performance of COVID antivirals Focal Foto / Flickr cc CIDRAP

A new real-world study in Greece finds that for high-risk patients, COVID-19 antivirals are highly effective in reducing the risk of both hospitalization and death. The study is published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

Patients who were older than 75, and reported good drug adherence benefitted the most from the drugs molnupiravir (Lagevrio) and nirmatrelvir/ritonavir (Paxlovid)

How Wildfires Kill People The deadly wildfire in Lahaina, Hawaii, has killed dozens of people so far. Here’s how fires threaten human health Tanya Lewis Scientific American

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Scientific American spoke with Vanessa Kerry, the World Health Organization’s special envoy for climate change and health and CEO of Seed Global Health, about the ways that wildfires kill and the need to take action to prevent and prepare for them.

[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]

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Mishmash of how US heat deaths are counted complicates efforts to keep people safe as Earth warms Death certificates don’t always reflect the role that extreme heat played in ending a person’s life even when it seems obvious it was a factor. AP News

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How Maui’s wildfires became so apocalyptic A large hurricane, drought, and perhaps even invasive grasses have fueled the devastating fires in Hawaii. Benji Jones Vox

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Older discharged COVID patients at twice the risk of death as older flu patients, study finds US Navy, Ryan M. Breeden / Flickr cc CIDRAP

Older adults who are hospitalized for COVID-19 have double the rate of death upon discharge as older adults hospitalized for influenza-related complications, according to a new study in The BMJ.

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Long COVID is devastating and far from rare. As infections rise again, why are we still ignoring it? As COVID cases rise once again, we are unprepared for the "mass disabling" event caused by long COVID Yahoo News

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COVID-19 took a toll on heart health and doctors are still grappling with how to help COVID-19 has taken a toll on the nation's heart health but how profound is only starting to emerge. Heart attack deaths spiked early in the pandemic, erasing years of progress in battling cardiovascular disease. AP News

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Hawaii wildfires: How did the Maui fire start and what we know about the Lahaina blaze? Wildfires on Hawaii's Maui island and Big Island have killed at least 55 people, forced thousands of residents and tourists to evacuate, and devastated the historic resort city of Lahaina. Here are some key questions and answers about the disaster. Jonathan Oatis Reuters

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Don’t Get Your Next COVID Booster Quite Yet An uptick in COVID-19 cases and the fast-approaching new school year have many people wondering when they should get their next booster. The short answer, according to experts: not quite yet — you will be a lot better off if you wait another month or two. In June, an advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration recommended that the next COVID vaccine formulation target the omicron XBB.1.5 variant. Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax are now working to update, test and mass-produce their vaccines, Yahoo News

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