  We discuss color screening in 2+1 flavor QCD in terms of free energies of a
static quark-antiquark pair. Thermal modifications of long distance
correlations in quark-antiquark systems are studied in terms of static meson
correlators. We calculate the Polyakov loop correlator, the color-singlet
Wilson line correlator in Coulomb gauge and the cyclic Wilson loop on lattices
using the HISQ/Tree action and almost physical quark mases with $N_\tau= 4, 6,
8, 10, 12$. We present results in the continuum limit for temperatures up to $T
\lesssim 650$ MeV and discuss the linear divergence of the cyclic Wilson loop.
