Colorado's COVID-19 Response Ranks 17th In Nation: UC Berkeley

DENVER, CO — Colorado ranks 17th among U.S. states for its pandemic response, according to a study that analyzed racial and ethnic disparities in rate of infection, hospitalization and deaths.

The study, which was led by UC-Berkeley's Othering and Belonging Institute, broke down the performance of all 50 states and 172 countries based on the three aforementioned categories.

Researchers found that the states with the best pandemic responses fared better across those categories than those that didn't, with Colorado slotting in ahead of many other states.

The three categories provide the most objective breakdown of local health departments' effectiveness in responding to the pandemic, the institute said.

"The most effective states appeared to be those that carried out strong public health measures grounded in science," said Elsadig Elsheikh, co-author of the 2020 Inclusiveness Index, an annual report published by the Othering & Belonging Institute.

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States that were more aggressive in putting mask mandates and social distancing orders fared better than those that did not, according to the report.

The aim of the study was to measure how governments protect and accommodate the needs of marginalized populations, the institute said.

"The Covid-19 pandemic produced stark disparities by race, age and other demographics that reminded us of the vulnerability of certain marginalized communities as well as inequalities in health care access and policy. Our Covid Index and analysis confronts this reality," Stephen Menendian, the report's co-author, said in a statement.

The top-three states in the institute's study were Vermont, Alaska and Maine. The worst states in the ranking were Mississippi, Iowa and South Dakota.

Worldwide, the U.S. ranked 161st out of 172 countries, while the United Arab Emirates, Denmark and Iceland ranked atop the national rankings.

Patch Editor Christopher Boan contributed to this report.