Texas Anti-Mask 'Freedom Rally' Organizer Fighting For His Life With COVID-19
Category: News & Politics
Via: john-russell • 4 years ago • 44 commentsBy: Josephine Harvey (HuffPost)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
His pregnant wife said this week that the hospital was "out of options" for her husband. 
By Josephine Harvey
A Texas man who helped organize protests against pandemic restrictions is fighting for his life after being hospitalized for nearly a month with COVID-19, the San Angelo Standard-Times reported.
His wife, Jessica Wallace, wrote Wednesday on Facebook that she had a "heartbreaking update" about her husband, Caleb.
"He's not doing good. It's not looking in our favor," she said. "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."
"My heart just can't. I can't imagine my life without him."
Caleb Wallace, a 30-year-old father of three, has been unconscious, ventilated and heavily sedated in the ICU at Shannon Medical Center in San Angelo since Aug. 8, the Standard-Times reported. His wife said on a GoFundMe page for household and medical bills that he was was intubated multiple times, had high fevers, infection and bleeding in his chest.
In July 2020, Caleb Wallace reportedly helped organize a "freedom rally" that billed itself as a protest against the "government being in control of our lives." He also founded the San Angelo Freedom Defenders, which hosted a separate rally last year to "end COVID tyranny."
In a video from one of the group's events featuring Wallace and another organizer, attendees had signs saying "all jobs are essential" and "open Texas."
He wrote a letter in April to the San Angelo Independent School District that was published by a local news outlet. In it, he demanded that the school district "rescind ALL COVID-related policies immediately" and falsely claimed that wearing masks had harmful effects on children and that there was "little evidence that masks worked for anyone."
He signed the letter as state coordinator of the West Texas Minutemen, a right-wing militia group that has disseminated extensive anti-vaccine misinformation on Facebook. The group's page is no longer active, after a report by the Tech Transparency Project revealed that it was sharing misinformation. However, a page for the still-active East Texas Minutemen, which has also posted anti-mask rhetoric and false claims about COVID-19 treatments, is still active and is liked by Jessica and Caleb Wallace's shared Facebook page.
When he first felt symptoms on July 26, his wife told the Standard-Times, he refused to get tested or seek medical care. He instead began treating himself with a cocktail of Vitamin C, zinc, aspirin and ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug that has been falsely promoted as an effective treatment for COVID-19 by conservative media. He was taken to the hospital on July 30.
Jessica Wallace told the Standard-Times that she was "less conservative" than her husband and personally wears a mask.
"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 Wallace family's story comes amid a mask debate across Texas, where Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has issued an executive order banning mask mandates. Some local officials have fought back or defied the order, creating a confusing patchwork of rules across more than 200 counties.
This has gone on amid a new wave of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations across Texas, driven by the virulent and highly contagious delta variant of the virus. Roughly 47% of Texas's eligible population has been fully vaccinated.
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There are roughly 16 million adults in Texas. Over half of that number are not vaccinated.
They are in for a whole lot more hurt down there.
gee, that's too fucking bad for that anti-vax nut.
I think I speak on behalf of many: whatever I would like to say here would be stricken down as being against the CoC.
Color me rebel.
Play stupid games and win stupid prizes.
And this is what happens when someone is stupid.
Being stupid should hurt.....
I think in this case it will
www.local10.com /news/florida/2021/08/27/florida-breaks-another-covid-record-with-27584-new-cases/
Florida breaks another COVID record with 27,584 new cases
David Selig 3-3 minutes 8/27/2021
Florida
State reports 150K new cases for third straight week
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Florida has again set a new record for COVID-19 cases reported in a single day, with the CDC saying Friday that the state added 27,584 to its tally.
Eight more deaths connected to COVID-19 were reported by the state to the CDC, raising the total to 43,640 fatalities since the start of the pandemic.
Florida’s case total is now at 3,179,493, the CDC data shows .
The Florida Department of Health’s own weekly COVID-19 report also came out later Friday and showed a third consecutive week with more than 150,000 new cases.
The 151,749 new cases from Aug. 20-26 were a slight increase from the 150,236 a week prior.
Of those, 26,475 new cases in the past week were among children under 12 who are not yet eligible to be vaccinated.
The statewide new-case positivity rate dropped to 16.8%, according to the state, which is the lowest since mid-July. It had been 20.1% the previous week. ( See the full report at the bottom of this article. )
The state’s COVID death toll increased by more than 900 in Thursday’s CDC data report , though those deaths didn’t all occur in the previous 24 hours and span back over weeks.
More than 26,000 new cases had been reported Wednesday , which was the previous daily high.
The 7-day moving average for new cases in Florida has remained over 21,000 for more than two weeks. The state is accounting for about 15% of the new cases nationally.
Florida leads the nation with 16,457 people hospitalized with COVID-19 on Friday, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services . Their metrics show that 85% of Florida’s overall hospital beds are occupied and 95% of the state’s ICU beds are filled.
The Florida Hospital Association notes that admissions are slowly coming down from the recent peak, however.
The latest state data shows that 68% of eligible Floridians (ages 12 and older) have received at least one vaccine shot, two percentage points higher than last week.
Miami-Dade has 86% of its eligible population vaccinated; Broward has 77%; Monroe has 76%; Palm Beach County has 71%.
To find out where you can get a COVID-19 vaccine in South Florida, click here .
SEE THE STATE’S FULL WEEKLY COVID-19 REPORT BELOW:
Copyright 2021 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.
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David Selig is the Digital Executive Producer at WPLG, overseeing Local10.com.
Sadly, 30 year old Caleb passed this evening leaving 3 kids and a pregnant wife.
He had been unconscious on a ventilator since August 8
Perhaps if he hadn't been an ardent anti vaxxer, anti masker stubborn ass
and cared enough about himself to stick around and see his kiddos grow up
a hospital bed would have been available to a nearby US Army veteran of Afghanistan
46 year old Danny Wilkinson
who died of a gall stone issue this week
that under normal circumstance should have been a 2 hour outpatient procedure.
By the time a bed was found in the Vet system his kidneys were failing and his intestines were dying.
COVID's impact on those who don't have virus: Veteran dies at Houston hospital while waiting for treatment (msn.com)
See my post 3.1
It's tough at this point to feel sorry for anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers. It's not like they don't know that covid can kill you, masks are easy to wear and getting vaccinated is free.
ZERO excuse at this time beyond medical exemptions.
I don't! I have no sympathy for stupidity.
Never underestimate the stupidity of the American people.
But, but...freedom. Civil liberties. Government regime.
he surrendered to the 6 foot deep state...
Ah, I see what you did there.
After this, one can only hope that the pregnant wife, and any kids above 12 YOA, have gotten their vaccines.
I was unable to find any employment history to see if he had employer based healthcare or was self employed .
The gofundme page was started the day he was intubated 08/08/2021,
with Jessica Wallace asking for help with everyday bills like the mortgage, water bill and food.
They've raise over $60K so far but I think they are in for a rude surprise when they get the first hospital bill.
Hopefully Caleb had some life insurance.
He was anti-vaccinations, but he did use horse dewormer to try to cure himself. Maybe he should have ingested bleach.
Or gotten a "really powerful light."
They could probably try bleeding or leeches.
Trump says that leeches worked on him.
Trump did not say that. He is the leech.
Not even leeches would suck him.
Well. At least he’s still got his freedom!
Support our troops and back the blue certainly didn't hold up.
The new leading cause of death in police departments across the country is Covid.
Men and women who served their country cannot get hospital care because too many unvaccinated patients have filled p hospitals in the south to the breaking point. People with non-covid health emergencies or accidents are being turned away from hospitals that are already full.
People are dying in record numbers once again like we saw with the first big surge. Texas and a few southern states whose governors are now asking for more refrigerated trucks to store the bodies. Not "fake" news, just a real tragedy of Americans not looking out for each other by getting vaccinated and following guidelines.
It's great that he died before killing his defenseless children.
Cull of the MAGA?
Self inflicted too.
This crowd won’t learn. I went to an outdoor event with my wife and some close friends on Sunday, just an 80’s band having an outdoor concert in a big parking lot at a restaurant. I’d never been to this place and wasn’t sure what to expect, but since it was outdoors we decided to go. We grabbed the only table left and it was furthest from the stage next to the parking area. The place was out in the sticks, and this is the vehicle that was parked right next to our table (yes, somebody drove this there, and yes that appears to be a mounted machine gun under a tarp). We knew right away to stay away from this crowd because they were unlikely to have a high level of vaccination. The patrons (mostly older rural folks) packed themselves in front of the stage and danced for two hours, while the singer bent over to stick the mic in anyone’s face who wanted to sing along. I saw one mask the whole time. It won’t be surprising if it doesn’t end well for them.
Yep; time to go. Hopefully it was just a prop or for show or whatever.
Are those even legal for civilians?
I’m guessing it’s just a prop under the tarp to “own the libs”. You know you’re in a good of’ boy town when someone is driving around in something like this and nobody blinks an eye to it. The owner is probably the local police chief or something.
Besides this story the conservative radio host the Atlantic named who once referred to himself as Mr Antivax died on Saturday of COVID.
No big loss.
Within the last month there have been at least 2 radio hosts and one television talking head amongst the various other vocal anti-mask/anti-vax people. A number of shit talking opportunists parsing anti-propaganda like Tucker Carlson have been vaccinated. FoxNews parent corp mandated vaccines for all personnel.
I read this morning that Kid Rock had to cancel two upcoming shows because half his band has covid. He was previously gloating about his packed show at Sturgis, and how the libs will cry when they see the photos of how much fun they were having packed together like sardines. Now he’s whining like a little bitch because it didn’t end well for them.
Phil Valentine died last Saturday.
Marc Bernier, Mr. Ant-Vax died 2 days ago.
Dick Farrel another Florida conservative radio host died 08/04/2021
Kid Rock... I used to like his music before he became a raging douchbag. About the time he started dating Pamela Anderson... Okay, maybe he was always a raging douchbag.