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COVID-19 cases at a JBS meatpacking plant in Colorado have more than doubled “in a number of days” and a sixth employee died of the virus, a union official said on Thursday, underscoring the risks of U.S. meat plants reopening. The beef plant in Greeley, Colorado, started operating last Friday after it was closed for about two weeks following an outbreak among workers. (4/30)

Outbreaks of the coronavirus in meat processing plants appear to play an outsized role in a handful of states with new infection rates far higher than the rest of the country. Or, as economist Ian Shepherdson put it Thursday: "The U.S. meat industry is the source of most new COVID hotspots." (Gibson, 4/30)

Iowa's top employment official on Thursday clarified the reasons a worker may refuse to return to a job because of the coronavirus pandemic yet maintain unemployment benefits. The reasons remain narrow, such as those who have been infected by COVID-19 or who have household members who have been. (Akin, 4/30)

Amazon.com Inc has told staff whose job can be done from home that they can do so until at least Oct. 2, pushing out the timeline on a return to work for many employees as it faces scrutiny over conditions in its warehouses. “Employees who work in a role that can effectively be done from home are welcome to do so until at least October 2,” an Amazon spokesman said in an emailed statement on Friday, adding it was applicable to such roles globally. (5/1)

The massive shopping surge fueled by the coronavirus pandemic caught Amazon unprepared, even as it drove a 26 percent jump in first-quarter revenue, the company said Thursday. Now, Amazon plans to spend at least $4 billion in the current quarter to add warehouse and delivery workers, test its staff and provide them with personal protective gear so it can unclog its network that still struggles to meet customer demand for household staples such as toilet paper and bleach. (Greene, 4/30)

The coronavirus’s economic wreckage is poised to boost the dominance of tech giants like Facebook, Google and Amazon — and their risks of an antitrust collision with Washington. The pandemic has hit the biggest tech companies too, of course, with both Google and Facebook reporting this week that their digital ad revenue plunged as the economy began shutting down in March. (Overly and Nylen, 5/1)