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Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) extended the state’s mandatory mask order into 2021 amid a rise in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. The order, which was set to expire Friday at 5 p.m., will now remain in effect until Jan. 22, 2021. Under the order, individuals are required to wear masks when in public or in close contact with other people. (Williams, 12/9)

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum on Wednesday extended an executive order that requires people wear masks and limits the size of gatherings until next month but will allow high school sports to resume next week. The Republican governor issued the executive order on Nov. 13, and it was set to expire Sunday. The mandate, which has been extended until Jan. 18, requires residents to wear face coverings in indoor businesses and indoor public settings, as well as outdoor public settings where physical distancing isn’t possible. (MacPherson, 12/10)

Arguments over mask requirements and other restrictions have turned ugly in recent days as the deadly coronavirus surge across the U.S. engulfs small and medium-size cities that once seemed safely removed from the outbreak. In Boise, Idaho, public health officials about to vote on a four-county mask mandate abruptly ended a meeting Tuesday evening because of fears for their safety amid anti-mask protests outside the building and at some of their homes. (Hollingsworth and Foley, 12/10)

Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said Wednesday he’s disgusted that some cities, particularly in the Tulsa area, have not mandated mask wearing to help slow the spread of the coronavirus. Cities with mask ordinances listened to medical professionals, Bynum said, suggesting city leaders in some other municipalities who opposed mask mandates took advice from “Facebook epidemiologists who can cite some sham website and claim that makes them an expert on the value of mask wearing.” (12/9)

In a state where the Republican governor, Kristi L. Noem, has defied calls for a statewide mask mandate even as cases hit record levels, many in this rural community an hour west of Sioux Falls ignored the virus for months, not bothering with masks or social distancing. Restaurants were packed. Big weddings and funerals went on as planned. Then people started dying. The wife of the former bank president. A state legislator. The guy whose family has owned the bike shop since 1959. (Gowen, 12/9)