A HIDDEN COST OF COVID: SHRINKING MENTAL-HEALTH SERVICES

Wall Street Journal - ​Hospitals across New York state have repurposed or closed hundreds of psychiatric, detox and drug-rehabilitation beds over the past six months to make room for Covid-19 patients, leading to a cascading crisis in mental-health care.

Treatment has become harder to find just as the pandemic has driven higher demand for services, according to interviews with behavioral-health workers, patients and patients’ families.

About 400 psychiatric beds remain closed for care—more such closures than in the past five years, according to the state’s Office of Mental Health. About 150 addiction beds in hospitals are similarly shut, according to the state’s Office of Addiction Services and Supports. The overall number of such beds had risen slightly over the past five years.

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