Why Americans are numb to the staggering coronavirus death toll William Wan, Brittany Shammas Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cemetery during a surge in covid-19 cases and deaths in El Paso, Tex., on Nov. 25. (Ivan Pierre Aguirre/Reuters) When Todd Klindt buried his dad, he was stunned. Some of the mourners arrived not wearing masks for the funeral of a man killed by the coronavirus. Just days earlier, Klindt had held his father’s hand in a hospital intensive care unit. Now, watching people at the funeral acting as if the world was not on fire, as if people were not dying by the dozen every hour of every day he wanted to shout, “He’s right here!”