Enter your number to get our free mobile app

We routinely hear about different statistics when it comes to traffic, but the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office just posted a very sobering video about one grim statistic.

There's been no shortage of numbers bandied about during this COVID-19 year of 2020, right? We hear about the number of positive COVID-19 cases, the number of tests conducted, the ongoing positivity rate, and more.

All those numbers tend to make my eyes glaze over sometimes. But one number-- the death rate-- always gives me pause. Because it's not just a number, it also represents a person, a fellow Minnesotan, who is now no longer with us. It's tremendously sobering.

Also sobering, and for the same reasons, is this new video posted by the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office on their Facebook page. It's a powerful look at another grim statistic, the number of traffic fatalities that have taken place so far in 2020 here in southeast Minnesota.

As the video shows, there have been 42 traffic deaths throughout the counties that make up our corner of the state-- 11 of them here in Olmsted County alone so far this year. Those are 42 souls who won't be around to gather with their loved ones (even if it's only virtually this year) during the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years holidays.

Especially powerful is the note that this isn't just 'breaking news,' it's 'heartbreaking news'-- especially since some of those deaths occurred during crashes where some of the occupants were not wearing seatbelts, something that's easy to do and also happens to be the law in Minnesota. Check out the video below. And keep scrolling to check out the equally-sobering list of businesses we've lost so far this year. Can 2020 just end already?!?

Listen to Curt St. John from 6 to 10 a.m. on Quick Country 96.5
and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on 103.9 The Doc

KEEP READING: Rochester Businesses That Have Closed in 2020

More From KROC-AM