Part of what COVID Pau brings to the pandemic- survival equation is data. The nonprofit collective seeks information about COVID-19 — including hospital capacity, activities driving infection, new case counts and positive results, economic measures — and posts it (covidpau.org). If people can see what’s causing problems, the reasoning goes, they’ll make better choices.

But another part is hearing real-life stories of illness and recovery, also recorded and posted. Nothing works like eyewitness testimonials.

Wildfire danger touches Hawaii

Less than two weeks after the National Weather Service issued this year’s first red-flag warning — signaling critical fire weather conditions — on the leeward side of all Hawaiian isles, a second was posted for the same areas on Thursday. According to agency drought tracking, scant rainfall through summer months has resulted in crumbling vegetation across stretches of Oahu as well as on Kauai and Maui.

Earlier this week, weather officials tweeted that experimental forecast data suggests that a low concentration of smoke from California’s raging wildfires has been detectable near the isles. Let’s hope that remains the only wildfire smoke drifting in Hawaii skies.