The pandemic took a toll on too many people's lives, but did so in way greater numbers on people's livelihoods, leaving many jobless and stranded for food.  The NY Times wanted to find a way to document it as it happened. The scope of the story went through many reformations. The resulting article was a three full page cover story in their Food section. At the time they first started working on this article, NYC was at the height of its COVID infections rate and was on lockdown. Travel was heavily discouraged unless absolutely necessary to the point where the streets were practically empty. Even newsrooms kept their staff close to home - literally. Stories were assigned to reporters based on their proximity and going indoors to gather information for stories was heavily discouraged.