As COVID surges, health officials try to balance public buy-in with stricter measures

Montana has set multiple new records for COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the past week, and now ranks among the top states in the nation in daily new cases per capita. Hospitals in some of Montana's largest cities are at or near capacity, while health care providers are pleading with people to heed public health advice. Public health departments say they aren't able to keep up with contact tracing and feel powerless in the face of politically charged resistance to masks and social distancing.

"Right now, the biggest challenge is [that] we have got to slow down the number of cases or...