CNN’s Sara Sidner cries during Covid-19 report: ‘We are literally killing each other’

CNN correspondent Sara Sidner has been covering Covid-19 grief firsthand, and on Tuesday, she shared the pain that comes with reporting on the deadly virus.

More than 375,000 people in the United States have died from Covid-19, and Sidner, who has reported from 10 different hospitals during the pandemic, emphasized that the virus is hitting communities of color particularly hard. “The Black and Latino community is getting hit disproportionately,” Sidner told “New Day” anchor Alisyn Camerota on Tuesday. “They are taking the brunt of this, and many of those people are the people that we rely on to live our daily lives.”

In her report, Sidner interviewed Juliana Jimenez Sesma, a California woman who lost her mother and stepfather to Covid-19. The couple died within 11 days of each other, and the Sesma family held the funeral in a parking lot. Sidner asked Sesma, “How many people ended up getting it?” Sesma responded, “All of us.”

“Don’t let this be you,” Sesma said. “If you truly love your loved ones, don’t let this be you. Continue to take all the precautions. Take extra precautions. Exaggerate if you have to.”

After wrapping the report, Sidner choked up. “To see the way that these families have to live after this and the heartache that goes so far and so wide, it’s really hard to take.”

She apologized as she wept through her statement, but Camerota quickly comforted her and thanked her for her reporting. “No apology needed,” Camerota said. “We’ve been watching your reporting on the ground. Throughout this horrific year, and we have all been struck by the grief.” She added, “Sara, we we all appreciate the heart that you bring to this every single day as well as your excellent reporting.”

In response, Sidner said, “It’s just not OK. It’s not OK what we’re doing to each other. These families should not be going through this. No family should be going through this.”