Virus cases rise in US heartland, home to anti-mask feelings

MISSION, Kan. (AP) — The latest hot spot for the coronavirus in the United States is the heartland, where cases are rising in a worrying trend. The pandemic began with devastation in the New York City area, and was followed by a summertime crisis in the Sun Belt. But it is now striking cities with much smaller populations, often in conservative corners of America where anti-mask sentiment runs high, creating problems at hospitals and schools in the Midwest and West. Wisconsin is averaging more than 2,000 new cases a day over the last week, compared with 675 just three weeks earlier, and hospitalizations are at the highest level since March.