Caleb Wallace: Texas anti-masker, 30, dies of Covid after battling virus for weeks
Caleb Wallace, a 30-year-old Texas man who helped organize the “Freedom Rally” and other prominent protests against pandemic restrictions, has died from Covid-19.
Wallace's wife Jessica Wallace announced the death of her husband on the GoFundMe page she set up after he was intubated. "Caleb has peacefully passed on. He will forever live in our hearts and minds," she wrote.
Jessica, who is pregnant with the couple's fourth child, said that he initially began experiencing symptoms on July 26 and that he had been in the hospital since July 30.
“He was so hard-headed,” Jessica Wallace told the San Angelo Standard-Times. “He didn’t want to see a doctor, because he didn’t want to be part of the statistics with COVID tests.”
Wallace reportedly believed that vaccine mandates were also an infringement on people’s constitutional rights.
Despite repeated warnings from the FDA, and numerous public health officials, many Americans have refused to heed the advice and suffered the consequences. On August 24, we reported about the death of Haley Richardson, a pregnant nurse in Alabama who refused to get vaccinated. In late July, ant-masker and right-wing radio host, Phil Valentine was taken to critical care after contracting Covid. He died in late August. On August 19, a local GOP leader and anti-masker Pressley Stutts also died after contracting Covid-19.
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Who was Caleb Wallace?
The 30-year-old was a resident of San Angelo and a father to three, with another child on the way. He was well known in the city for being a prominent anti-masker, having stood up to the school board and even helped organize a rally. In July 2020, Wallace was one of the key organizers of the 'Freedom Rally', where protesters demanded the state end all restrictions and ban mask and vaccine mandates. Gov Greg Abbott seemed happy to comply and issued a ban on vaccine mandates in late August.
Apart from the Freedom Rally, Wallace also made the headlines in April after writing a letter to the San Angelo Independent School District. He claimed there was "so little evidence that masks worked for anyone," that he wanted all Covid-related policies to be "rescinded immediately." "What have been the benefits of lockdowns and masking? I say to you that there is ZERO benefit to this continued practice," he wrote. In December 2020, he wrote on the city's Facebook page, "Show me the science that masks work. Show me the evidence that school closures work. Show me the evidence that lock-downs work."
Since 2020, he had appeared in interviews with numerous local media outlets, and even organized the 'The San Angelo Freedom Defenders' group. His wife was keen to note though, that he was more than an anti-masker. He usually assisted in mowing someone's lawn or volunteered to help elsewhere. "At the end of the day, whether he was a hardcore conservative or not, he was an amazing man," his wife Jessica said.
Wallace 'didn't want to be a part of the statistic'
Jessica told Go San Angelo that her husband began experiencing symptoms four days before he was hospitalized. "Every time he would start to cough, it would turn into a coughing attack, and then that would cause him to completely go out of breath. He was so hard-headed. He didn't want to see a doctor, because he didn't want to be part of the statistics with Covid tests," she said. He reportedly refused to get tested and treated himself with Vitamin C, zinc, aspirin, and ivermectin.
But then things turned for the worst and Wallace was forced to visit the hospital. Since then, his condition deteriorated. "The first week he was able to be on oxygen. By the morning of (Aug. 8), he had to be ventilated," Jessica said. On August 26, she said, "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."
The turn of events has left Jessica in dire need of money. "For the longest time bills were not on my mind but with Caleb being out for over 2 weeks the bills are approaching and we were not prepared for this to be happening," she wrote on a GoFundMe page.