A anti-masker in Texas who organized protests against COVID-19 pandemic guidelines has been fighting for his life in the hospital for nearly a month after contracting the virus, according to reports.
Caleb Wallace, a 30-year-old father of three, started showing symptoms of the virus on July 26 and initially refused to go to the hospital for treatment, his wife, Jessica, told the San Angelo Standard-Times. Instead, he was taking vitamin C, aspirin, and ivermectin.
He was taken to the Shannon Medical Center just a few days later, on July 30. According to the report, his condition worsened, resulting in him being placed on a ventilator in the ICU earlier this month.
Jessica, who is pregnant with a fourth child due in late September, created a GoFundMe and raised more than $35,000 to help with Wallace’s medical bills and other finances. She has also been providing updates on her husband’s condition on the fundraiser and her Facebook page.
“Caleb won’t make it much longer. He will be moved to comfort care tomorrow, and I will get to be there with him until it’s his time to return to our father in heaven,” Jessica wrote in an update on the GoFundMe on Friday. “I appreciate everyone, all the good and the bad. You all have the right to feel the way you feel, as Caleb once fought for his beliefs. He was an imperfect man, but he loved his family and his little girls more than anything.”
The Huff Post reported that in July 2020, Wallace organized “The Freedom Rally” protests opposing the “government being in control of our lives.”
He is also touted as a founder of San Angelo Freedom Defenders and orchestrated a rally “to end COVID tyranny,” according to San Angelo LIVE! and the Standard-Times.
In addition, as the Standard-Times reported, Wallace wrote a letter to the San Angelo Independent School District asking them to overturn their COVID-related guidelines.
In an update on his condition on Saturday, Jessica told the New York Times that her husband would be transferred to hospice at the hospital, and the family will share their final goodbyes.
Texas has been heavily impacted by the surge in COVID-19 cases, leading some hospitals to scramble as ICU beds are in the single digits.
According to the Texas Tribune, health officials have warned that the state is “entering the worst surge in sheer numbers,” as the unvaccinated make up a majority of hospitalizations. Data from the New York Times shows that about 47% of the people in the state are fully vaccinated.
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