Consider This from NPR Folgen

The BA.5 variant is the most dominant strain of COVID-19 in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's highly transmissible and it's driving up COVID cases and hospitalizations. This week NPR learned that the Biden administration may scrap plans to let more younger adults get second COVID-19 boosters this summer. Instead, officials are trying to speed up availability of the next generation of boosters in the fall — boosters that specifically target the new subvariant. We talk to Dr. Robert Wachter, the chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, about the administration's booster strategy and how people can protect themselves in the midst of the latest surge. This episode also features reporting from NPR's Rob Stein.A heads up to listeners: we recorded this episode Thursday afternoon, before the Biden administration announced that it will hold off on offering boosters for people under 50 this summer.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Residential hotels used to play a huge role in the American housing landscape, providing flexible accommodation for anyone who needed it, from the rich and famous to the barely scraping by. Slate staff writer Henry Grabar argues that a return of extended-stay hotels could help solve some of today's housing market dysfunction.KNKX's Will James reports on what happened after tenants of a residential hotel in Tacoma, Wash., were forced out—into a housing market with very few affordable options.You can read his entire series on the Merkle Hotel here, and Henry Grabar's article on extended stay hotels here.This episode also features reporting on the US housing shortage from NPR's Chris Arnold.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The James Webb Space Telescope has captured images of the universe that have stunned both scientists and the public. But for more than twenty years before its launch, the mission faced multiple delays, cost overruns, technical difficulties and threats from Congress to kill it altogether.We'll speak with some of the leaders of the Webb telescope mission who fought to keep it alive — and hear from astronomers whose work is now changed forever by its images.This episode also features reporting from NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy