As COVID-19 deaths mount in El Paso, the pandemic is robbing some mourners of traditional funerals Texas Tribune Updated: Tags: EL PASO – When Cindy Colorado’s mother-in-law died from COVID-19 on Dec. 1 – becoming one of more than 1,300 El Pasoans who have succumbed to the virus in this border town – the family hoped to give her a traditional Catholic funeral. "We'd like at least some time of blessing, if it can be done," Colorado said before she met with the funeral director. "If not, I understand because of what [El Paso] is going through, and I understand what [the church] is going through as well."