Colorado’s health care system scored 17th for COVID-19 response, but ranked among the five worst states for mental health, alcohol deaths and suicides, according to survey.

Anuj Mehta, a pulmonary care physician at Denver Health [and assistant professor of medicine at CU School of Medicine], told CPR in March while Colorado’s COVID-19 numbers are better in recent weeks than earlier in the pandemic, “most hospitals remain incredibly busy with non-COVID patients who are much sicker and tend to stay in the hospital for longer periods of time than before the pandemic.”