TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Two northeastern Kansas counties are backing off mask mandates they imposed last month as coronavirus cases surged, and officials set up a clinic in an arena in the state's city to vaccine thousands of health care workers.

County commissioners in Brown and Jackson counties argued that they had weathered a wave of infections and dropped mandates requiring people to wear masks against the advice of public health officials, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported. But in south-central Kansas, Reno County commissioners kept a mask mandate in place.

Sedgwick County, home to Wichita,...