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Boston Calling: This pandemic life

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This pandemic life

28/03/2020 GMT

BBC World Service - Boston Calling, This pandemic life

During this Coronavirus pandemic, governments are ‘dusting off plans built for wartime’

During this Coronavirus pandemic, governments are ‘dusting off plans built for wartime.’

The US has been planning for catastrophe on a national scale since the beginning of the Cold War and the advent of the nuclear age. Now, with the new coronavirus, the US and the world face a very different challenge, but the approach is similar. Author Garrett Graff examined this intersection between national security and national emergency in his book Raven Rock, named after one of the major bunkers used by the US government in times of emergency. 

Also, more than 300 million students in China are stuck at home and getting their schooling through online classes - how are they coping? As more people across the globe work from home, the team-messaging application Slack is having a big moment. International students in the US, displaced by COVID-19, face new challenges with online classes. In the US, farmworkers are considered essential so they still go out and work, but there are increasing concerns about their safety on the job. And Mr. Motivator wants you to have fun while exercising under quarantine.

Photo: An American flag is seen at sunrise at the Pentagon. Credit: Salwan Georges/The Washington Post/Getty Images

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