WP `esc_html()` function escapes the valid named HTML entity `ă` and this is causing problems for some state names (see issue #18355). This commit provides a workaround by replacing `ă` with its decimal HTML entity version `ă`.
The WP core ticket below added a whilelist of named HTML entity but there is no explanation why some named HTML entities, like `ă`, were not included in the list and thus are escaped:
https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/12284Fixes#18355
Claudio Sanches
Rodrigo Primo
Alexander Minza