A party on Lake Okoboji in the Great Lakes region of Iowa over July Fourth weekend.

A medical anthropologist on why the coronavirus response is so controversial in her hometown.

ARNOLDS PARK, Iowa — Walking down Broadway Street, flanked with nightclubs and restaurants, you would never know that the coronavirus is lurking here. The sun is shining, maskless people are buzzing about, and ice cream is selling. This is the 100 days of summer in which the Iowa Great Lakes region makes most of its money. Everything is open.

But this year, the vacation destination is also a regional coronavirus hot spot.

The local economy shut down in the spring for about a month. There were no cases recorded in the area by May 1, when Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds partially reopened restaurants, retail stores, and many other businesses in rural areas,