How Do We Grieve 300,000 Lives Lost? Eleven months into the COVID-19 crisis, an unimaginable death toll has been reached. NPR spoke to doctors, nurses and the bereaved about how they face loss every day. December 14, 2020, 5:35 PM White flags planted by volunteers visualize lives lost in the U.S. to COVID-19 as part of an installation by artist Suzanne Firstenberg in D.C. The death toll has now reached 300,000. More than 300,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the U.S. It is the latest sign of a generational tragedy — one still unfolding in every corner of the country — that leaves in its wake an expanse of grief that cannot be captured in a string of statistics.