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30th Aug 2021

Leader of Texas anti-mask movement dies from Covid-19

George McKay

‘Caleb has peacefully passed on. He will live forever in our hearts and minds’

A prominent anti-mask advocate from Texas has died from complications caused by Covid-19

Caleb Wallace, 30, spent three weeks in an intensive care unit at Shannon Medical Center in his hometown of San Angelo after being admitted to the hospital on July 30.

Mr Wallace was moved to a hospice on Friday 27 August so that his family were able to see him before he died.

Mr Wallace was known as the creator of the San Angelo Freedom Defenders, who sought an end to ‘Covid-19 tyranny’ and ‘government control.’

Since Mr Wallace was admitted to hospital, his wife set up a GoFundMe to pay for the family expenses while her husband could not work. Ms Wallace is the mother of Mr Wallace’s three children and she is expecting their fourth child next month.

“Caleb has peacefully passed on,” she wrote. “He will forever live in our hearts and minds.”

Mr Wallace helped organise The Freedom Rally in San Angelo on 4 July 2020.

Ms Wallace reportedly said her husband began suffering with Covid symptoms on July 26 but would not get tested or go to the hospital.

He instead took vitamin C, zinc, aspirin and ivermectin, an anti-parasitic medicine used for treatment of parasites in livestock that US officials have urged people not to take for the treatment of Covid-19.

Ms Wallace said: “To those who wished him death, I’m sorry his views and opinions hurt you. I prayed he’d come out of this with a new perspective and more appreciation for life. I can’t say much more than that because I can’t speak for him.”