North Dakota recently rose to the top of the list of new COVID-19 cases per person. North Dakota is one of the least populated areas in the United States, with only 700,000 people calling it home. It has had 40,000 cases statewide, with more than 6,000 active infections. “The state has a problem we haven’t been able to solve yet,” Travis Enders told VOA. Enders owns a business in Medora, a small tourist town in western North Dakota. The town’s 112 people have resisted wearing face masks in a state long known for resisting government requirements. “North Dakotans are a different breed,” said Jim Bridger, who owns a hotel and bar. “We live in lots of open space… socially distanced our whole lives.” North Dakotans, Bridger said, do not like being told what to do. While he requires workers at his hotel to wear masks, he does not have the same rule at the bar. He keeps the seating distanced and cleans the business each night. Jennifer Morlock, another North Dakotan, is of a different opinion. She believes that the longer the state takes to require masks, the longer the rise in COVID-19 cases will continue. Morlock owns a store that sells bicycles. Her bicycle shop is one of the few businesses in town that requires masks to be worn. “People like to talk about freedom and liberty,” she said, adding “to me, freedom means the freedom to keep my business open. If I get sick, I don’t have that freedom. I’ll have to shut down.”