Sen. Amy Klobuchar and her husband on Tuesday recounted the battle with the coronavirus that landed him in the hospital on oxygen — and forced her to stay away while he fought the illness.

In an interview with "NBC Nightly News" from her Minnesota home, Klobuchar, D-Minn., said she remained in Washington, D.C., while her husband, University of Baltimore law professor John Bessler, was in the hospital battling the virus.

"It's one of the hardest, hardest things — and I can't even imagine those families where they hear the opposite news, you know — after he's there for five days and it turns for the best," Klobuchar told correspondent Stephanie Gosk. "There are people where it turns for the worse, and they're on ventilators, or they don't make it, and it's a heartbreaking thing, and it's why we have to invest in testing and do everything to make up for the mistakes that were made at the beginning, where a country was not prepared for this."

Bessler, who has since recovered from the virus and joined Klobuchar for Tuesday night's interview, urged viewers to follow the government guidelines. "People really do need to pay attention to this, and it can happen to anybody." 

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