After reporting on the COVID crisis for almost a year, Sara Sidner could no longer hold back her tears.

On Tuesday, the CNN reporter choked up on live TV after doing a segment on Juliana Jimenez Sesma: a woman who lost both her mother and stepfather to COVID in the span of 11 days. Sidner met Sesma at her mother’s funeral – a funeral that was held in the corner of a parking lot. Despite taking all of the necessary precautions, Sesma lost her mother who had a lung condition and her stepfather who suffered from asthma and diabetes. The woman addressed everyone when she said, “Don’t let this be you. If you truly love your loved ones, don’t let this be you. Continue to, you know, take all the precautions. Take extra precautions. Exaggerate if you have to.”

Following the segment on the Sesma family, Sidner began to cry.

This is the tenth 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.

Sidner then apologized to the news anchor Alisyn Camerota who assured her that there is no need to say sorry.

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

This is Why I lost it on live TV. I felt like I needed to explain myself. 🤷🏽‍♀️ https://t.co/lkv7XIxXpE

— Sara Sidner (@sarasidnerCNN) January 13, 2021

In an article published on January 13, Sidner explained why she cried.

I felt raw and exposed and embarrassed all at once. I have long been taught as a woman “never let them see you cry” — not in public and especially not at work. But I did that Tuesday.
I cried. I couldn’t control my tears. I couldn’t use my words.
It happened not just in public, but on CNN, in front of America and the world.
What moved me to tears was, at first, simply rage. Rage at those who won’t take our ills seriously and those who are actively fighting against the truth. They are putting people’s lives in danger.