Sunday Spotlight, ADVISORY

EDITORS:

The following story has moved as this week's Sunday Spotlight, a feature showcasing the best off-the-news enterprise in the AP report:

VIRUS OUTBREAK-DAKOTA DEATHS

North Dakota and South Dakota have the nation’s worst rate of coronavirus deaths per capita in the last 30 days. Despite advances in treating coronavirus patients, hundreds more people in the Dakotas have died in recent weeks than during any other time of the pandemic. It serves as a grim exclamation point on the virus outbreak slamming the Upper Midwest and northern Plains, with few signs of slowing down. As winter approaches and hospitals scramble to make room for coronavirus patients, physicians and medical experts worry that the deaths will continue to climb in a region where people have been slow to adopt mitigation measures like wearing masks. By Stephen Groves and James MacPherson. SENT: 1,000 words, photos.

—The AP