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The 10 behavioral health beds at Cannon Memorial Hospital near the western edge of the state are almost always full. Meanwhile, more patients struggling with mental health issues end up waiting in the hospital’s emergency department to be admitted or sent somewhere else for psychiatric care. The small psychiatric unit at the Avery County hospital has received more than 5,000 patient referrals from across the state each year, but could only admit about 11 percent of those patients. This is not an uncommon story, as emergency departments across North Carolina and the country have become increasingly filled with behavioral health patients seeking help. (Knopf, 11/15)

Bipartisan momentum for action on mental health in the wake of the pandemic appears to be building ahead of next year’s legislative session. A group of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and both chambers gathered this week at the state Capitol for a press conference, with several declaring 2022 to be “the year of mental health” in a state that is now near the bottom in a ranking based on mental health care access. Georgia now ranks 48th in the Mental Health America ranking, which is a slight improvement from last year when the state was in last place. (Nolin, 11/12)

In covid news across the states —

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, recovered from a bout of COVID-19, landed Sunday in Washington, D.C., where he plans to join President Biden at a signing ceremony for the administration’s infrastructure bill before returning to Los Angeles on Tuesday, a mayoral spokesman said. Garcetti, who is fully vaccinated, had been in Glasgow, Scotland, attending the U.N. Climate Change Conference, when he tested positive for a breakthrough infection. Garcetti had a fever and symptoms of a head cold and isolated in a Glasgow hotel room, he told his staff. (Blume, 11/13)

The last three school districts in Florida that required at least some students to wear masks are dropping their mandates for student facial coverings. Starting Friday, grade school students in Miami-Dade schools can opt out of wearing a mask if they have their parents' permission. Masks already had been optional for high school and some middle school students. (11/12)

Koie Smith rarely found himself at a loss for words. After more than two decades in the information technology field, the 40-year-old Marietta resident had climbed the ranks to become the chief technologist of a construction company, where he charted out strategy, oversaw a team and spoke in front of hundreds of people at events. (Hallerman, 11/12)

Houston Methodist Hospital on Friday temporarily suspended a doctor on its staff who is spreading false information about COVID-19 to her patients and on social media. Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, an ear, nose and throat specialist who runs a private practice in River Oaks, was granted provisional privileges to practice at the hospital within the last year, according to a Methodist spokesperson. Bowden had never admitted a patient before Friday, when the hospital pulled those privileges for further investigation, the spokesperson said. (Gill, 11/12)

Also —

KHN: Live Performers Find Red State Rules A Tough Act To Follow
There was something a little different on stage at a recent performance of the musical “Sister Amnesia’s Country Western Nunsense Jamboree,” the first production for the Missoula Community Theatre since the beginning of the pandemic. All the actors wore clear face masks. That way, the audience could better see the actors’ expressions, which is “a pretty big deal in live theater,” said Jess Heuermann, who played Sister Mary Wilhelm in the show. (Alpert, 11/15)