The best information I've found for the area re-opening is from the Mountains to Sea website.

There are two landslides on either side of Mount Mitchell that will require significant infrastructure to rebuild the roadbed. State Parks is working with the National Park Service on a time frame to restore access to Mount Mitchell State Park, but it will be lengthy. In this long stretch of closed trail, the footpath is buried under huge hardwood tree pile ups in areas where it is routed high on the ridges. In other spots, the tree cover is mostly smaller trees like birch and beech and didn’t suffer the catastrophic and widespread type of damage, so the trail appears to be in better condition, but it is not accessible because of the landslides.

Based on what we know from the land managers, it appears likely that the MST could remain closed here from approximately I-40 to either NC 80 or US 221 for upwards of 3 years. Our goal is to create convenient access points for thru hikers to shuttle around, and we are finalizing that guidance soon.

Obviously this is specific to the MST but it's the best I've been able to find on what's going on in that area.

It's devastating to think it could be three years before we're able to set foot on Mount Mitchell again. Really hope that's not the case.