CNN’s Sara Sidner takes COVID-19 story to heart

The coronavirus crisis clearly is taking a toll on many Americans, including the journalists assigned to report on it.

CNN’s Sara Sidner was overcome with emotion Tuesday as she told viewers about the “heartache” she witnessed at a COVID-19 unit in Southern California.

Sidner, a former Bay Area TV news reporter, broke down in tears on-air during a live segment that followed a story about how the coronavirus has disproportionately affected Black and Latino families. The footage focused on a family that had to hold a funeral for its mother in a parking lot.

“This is the 10th hospital that I have been in and 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 said, starting to cry before apologizing to anchor Alisyn Camerota, stationed in the CNN studio.

“No apology needed,” Camerota replied. “We’ve been watching your reporting on the ground throughout this horrific year and we have all been struck by the grief, the collective grief, that all of us are in. To see these families who are soldiering through it, who are persevering and who are having to have these funerals in parking lots like the ones you showed us — it is just a collective trauma that all of us are living through. Sara, we all appreciate the heart you bring to this every single day as well as your excellent reporting.”

Sidner is certainly familiar to television viewers in the Bay Area. She was a standout reporter and anchor at KTVU (Channel 2) in Oakland for nearly four years beginning in 2004. She delivered her last telecast there alongside former KTVU titan Dennis Richmond before moving on to CNN.

With tears streaming down her face, Sidner ended her Tuesday segment on CNN by urging viewers to do their part in the battle against COVID-19.

“It’s just not OK. It’s not OK, what we’re doing to each other,” she said. “These families should not be going through this. No family should be going through this. So please listen to what this family is saying. Don’t let this be you. Do whatever you can to keep this from killing your family members and your neighbors and your friends and your teachers and doctors and firefighters — all of these people are here to help you, but you have to do your part.”