New Covid vaccines are on the way as 'Eris' variant rises Hospitalizations from "Eris", a variant of the Omicron form of the coronavirus, are on the rise around the United States. Michael Erman Reuters

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New York City sees spike in COVID-19 cases as new variant EG.5 becomes dominant strain in the U.S. As of Monday, the Bronx and Queens have the most cases out of the five boroughs. CBS New York

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Rising flood risks threaten many water and sewage treatment plants across the US Across the U.S., municipal water systems and sewage treatment plants are at increasing risk of damage from floods and sea-level rise brought on in part or even wholly by climate change. AP News

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A new Covid-19 variant has become the dominant lineage of the virus in recent weeks in the US and while it should not be a cause of undue concern for the public, its emergence is a reminder of the need for greater surveillance of the virus and of the importance of vaccine boosters, according to infectious disease experts.

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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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