What a week!

Here's what you missed.

(Washington Post)

COVID-19 stories:

• They were some of the first Americans to die from COVID-19. Their lives were important. They mattered. (Washington Post, ~35 min.)

• A New York ER doctor’s pandemic diary lays bare her experience on the front lines, going back to the start of the outbreak. Required reading for us all, I think. (New York Times Magazine, ~48 min.)

• Costco’s business is booming, but the wholesaler blew it on worker safety, both at its Washington state headquarters and in stores across the country. A gut-wrenching investigation. (BuzzFeed News, ~25 min.)

• At a Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in South Dakota, a massive outbreak among workers is yet another egregious example of failed company leadership in a “critical infrastructure industry.” This story is appalling. (BBC, ~20 min.)

• In this third damning piece about corporate malfeasance, dare I say that Carnival went cruising for a bruising? How the cruise line ignored the pandemic until it was too late. (Bloomberg, ~19 min.)

• We’re all bread makers now — with a little help from enterprising entrepreneurs. (The Hustle, ~10 min.)

• In a break from all the brutal pandemic news, this charmer is just what the doctor ordered. Trust me. (Bon Appétit, ~8 min.)

The best of the rest:

• I’ve never been a big Fiona Apple fan, but this interview — pegged to the release of her new album, Fetch the Bolt Cutters, which Pitchfork awarded a rare 10.0 — is a winner. (Vulture, ~36 min.)

• What are voters do with Tara Reade’s sexual assault allegation against Joe Biden? The best piece I’ve read on the topic. (New York Times Opinion, ~5 min.)

• After the Gulf Coast oil spill in 2010, a top plaintiff's attorney won $2.3 billion for 40,000 Vietnamese shrimp fishermen who lost their livelihoods. But there was one problem — the fishermen didn’t really exist. (The Atlantic, ~30 min.)

• I was skeptical about spending time with a story about the history of troll dolls, but I started reading and it won me over. (Smithsonian Magazine, ~12 min.)

• A beautiful essay about what transpires when a 7-year-old boy brings Dolly Parton’s Greatest Hits to school. (Guernica, ~9 min.)

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