Will rural America respond to Biden’s call for masks?

As coronavirus cases swept through the rural communities of the upper Midwest this fall, more people here began to wear masks and stay home, say residents of Shawano County, one of the hardest hit counties in Wisconsin.

Richard Kucksdorf was not one of them. An Iraq War veteran and head of the Shawano County Republican Party, Mr. Kucksdorf goes out often, attends meetings, shops. He almost never wears a mask if he can help it.

“I put one on when I go in a store and don’t want to hassle...