Texas man Caleb Wallace organized an anti-mask “Freedom Rally” earlier this year, and now he’s fighting for his life in a hospital after contracting COVID-19.
Per the San Angelo Standard-Times, Wallace has been in the hospital for almost a month and has recently taken a turn for the worse. "He’s not doing good. It’s not looking in our favor,” said his wife, Jessica Wallace. “His lungs are stiff due to the fibrosis. They called and said they’ve run out of options for him and asked if I would consent to a do not resuscitate. And it would be up to us when to stop treatments.”
The 30-year-old father of three has been unconscious and on a ventilator since at least Aug. 8, less than a month after he helped put together “The Freedom Rally” in San Angelo. The event billed itself as a protest against the “government being in control of our lives.” He was involved in the planning of other similar events last year.
In April, Wallace wrote a letter addressed to the San Angelo Independent School District demanding all COVID-19 safety measures be removed “immediately.” In the same letter, he incorrectly suggested face masks were harmful towards children and there was “little evidence that masks worked for anyone.”
Jessica Wallace admitted that she is “less conservative” than her husband, and unlike him she has worn masks to protect others and herself from COVID-19. “Caleb would tell me, ‘You know masks aren’t going to save you,’ but he understood I wanted to wear them,” she said. “It gives me comfort to know that maybe, just maybe, I’m either protecting someone or avoiding it myself.”
The story comes not long after Texas Governor Gregg Abbott, who tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this month, insisted that all face covering mandates at schools in the state be banned.
Caleb Wallace’s wife set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for his medical costs, raising over $20,000. The COVID-19 vaccine, meanwhile, is available to everyone in the U.S. for free.
