The NYT has lifted the paywall for all COVID-19 related articles. You need to log in or create a free account, but you don't need a subscription.

Disabling JS also works.

I got a login wall, but Safari's Reader Mode gave me the whole article without needing to create a login.

I haven’t had any trouble reading NYT articles about coronavirus, I don’t think there’s a paywall. Otherwise, archive.is will give you a free copy