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DENVER (KDVR) — The number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 in Colorado continues to decrease, a sign that the state’s most vulnerable population is staying protected, according to public health experts.

Colorado had 135 people hospitalized with COVID-19 Thursday. That’s an 85 percent decrease from the peak of 888 patients in April.

“It feels like a big relief,” said Dr. Connie Price, Denver Heath Chief Medical Officer. “It feels nice to get some of these patients discharged who’ve been with us for a long time with COVID.”

Just a month ago, Denver Health Medical Center typically had up to 50 COVID-19 patients. Now it’s about 15.

Other hospitals have also experienced drastic decreases in coronavirus patients.

UCHealth’s 12 hospitals now have a total of 34 COVID-19 patients. That’s down from about 100 last month.

HeathONE hospitals have 28 coronavirus patients. That’s decreased from 88 last month.

“In a perfect world, we’d have nobody in the hospital with COVID-19. But the fact that they’re trending downward is a good sign,” said Dr. Beth Carlton, an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Colorado School of Public Health, who’s also on the state’s coronavirus modeling team. “What we really don’t want to see is hospitalizations going up over time. We really haven’t seen that yet. And that’s good news for now.”

Public health experts will continue to monitor the hospitalization numbers. They said a second wave of COVID-19 cases could occur at anytime.