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HEARTLAND
ATTACK

In this July 14, 2020, file photo, a health worker performs a COVID-19 test at a Test Iowa site at Waukee South Middle School in Waukee, Iowa.
Associated Press
Virus cases rise in U.S. heartland, home to anti-mask feelings

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH, NICKY FORSTER The spike across the Midwest as well as parts of Public Health.
and JOCELYN NOVECK the West has set off alarms at hospitals, schools Harvard’s tracking dashboard globalepi-
Associated Press and colleges. demics.org has shown an increasing number
MISSION, Kan. (AP) — It began with devasta- Wisconsin is averaging more than 2,000 new of states turning red, indicating over 25 new
tion in the New York City area, followed by a cases a day over the last week, compared cases per 100,000 population. With experts ex-
summertime crisis in the Sun Belt. Now the coro- with 675 three weeks earlier. Hospitalizations pecting a surge in coronavirus cases and the
navirus outbreak is heating up fast in smaller in the state are at their highest level since the flu as cold weather sets in and people move
cities in the heartland, often in conservative outbreak took hold in the U.S. in March. indoors, Tsai warned: “It’s important to not take
corners of America where anti-mask sentiment Utah has seen its average daily case count our foot off the brakes.”
runs high. more than double from three weeks earlier. The U.S. is averaging more than 40,000 new
Elsewhere around the country, Florida's Repub- Oklahoma and Missouri are regularly recording confirmed cases a day. While that number is
lican governor lifted all restrictions on restau- 1,000 new cases a day, and Missouri Gov. Mike dramatically lower than the peak of nearly
rants and other businesses Friday and all but Parson, a staunch opponent of mask rules, 70,000 over the summer, the numbers are wor-
set aside local mask ordinances in the political tested positive this week. Kansas and Iowa risome nonetheless. The nation’s death toll
battleground state, in a move attacked by are also witnessing a spike in cases. And South eclipsed 200,000 this week, the highest in the
Democrats as hasty. Dakota and Idaho are seeing sky-high rates of world.
Meanwhile, confirmed cases of the virus in the tests coming back positive. In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis, a major ally of
U.S. hit another milestone — 7 million — ac- "What we're seeing is the newer hot spots rise President Donald Trump, gave businesses the
cording to the count kept by Johns Hopkins over the course of the last several weeks, pre- OK to reopen, declaring, “We’re not closing
University, though the real number of infections dominantly in the Upper Midwest," said Thomas anything going forward.”
is believed to be much higher. Tsai, a professor at Harvard's Chan School of Continued on next page