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!”