1. Is there any setting to remove display of “replies”? We have disabled in backend, however this still displays.

There is no setting to do that currently. But you can copy the item.php file from JoomlaFolder/components/com_easydiscuss/themes/wireframe/posts/item.php and paste it into the template override location which is at JoomlaFolder/templates/yourCurrentTemplate/html/com_easydiscuss/posts/item.php.

Then, you need to find and remove the following PHP code from the item.php file which is from the template override location:

					<div class="ed-statistic__item">

						<a href="<?php echo $post->getPermalink();?>">

							<span class="ed-statistic__item-count"><?php echo $post->getTotalReplies();?></span>

							<span>

								<?php echo $this->getNouns('COM_EASYDISCUSS_REPLIES', $post->getTotalReplies()); ?>

							</span>

						</a>

					</div>

Can you have a try and see how it goes?

2. All viewed posts continue to display as “New”. Is this the correct action?

For your information, you can set how many days you want for this 'New' label to be shown on the new post created which is at Backend > EasyDiscuss > Settings > Layout > General > General Board Settings > 'New post interval'.

Can you have a try and see how it goes?