A CNN journalist broke down sobbing while reporting live from the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic in the US, having visited ten hospitals.
Sara Sidner choked back tears as she explained the devastating impact COVID-19 was having on the city of Los Angeles, where cases have spiked once again.
"I apologise. I'm trying to get through this," she told CNN host Alisyn Camerota.
"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 had just interviewed Juliana Jimenez Sesma, who lost her mother and stepfather to the deadly virus in less than two weeks, and was forced to hold her mother's funeral in the hospital parking lot.
"It's just not okay. It's not okay what we're doing to each other. These families should not be going through this," Sidner said.
"No family should be going through this... don't let this be you. Do whatever you can to keep this from killing your family members and your neighbours 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," she added.
CNN host Camerota insisted that none of Sidner's apologies for struggling to get through the broadcast were necessary, telling her "we have all been struck by the collective grief that all of us are in", and thanking her for her "excellent reporting".
In a follow-up essay, Sidner explained she was grappling with "rage at those who won't take our ills seriously and those who are actively fighting against the truth", adding: "They are putting people's lives in danger."
