OK, I will laugh at this one...

Texas anti-mask organizer, 30, dies of COVID

Katie Dowd

Caleb Wallace, a Texas anti-mask organizer who allegedly treated himself with the horse dewormer ivermectin, has died after contracting COVID-19. He was 30 and is survived by his pregnant wife and three children.

Wallace founded the anti-mandate group "The San Angelo Freedom Defenders." Its Facebook page says its goal is to "encourage [citizens] to actively participate in their duty to secure God-given and constitutionally protected rights." On the Fourth of July, Wallace organized a so-called "Freedom Rally" for people "sick of the government being in control of our lives."

Because of his views, he was a regular presence at San Angelo city council meetings and on the local news. 

“My health has nothing to do with you. As harsh as that sounds, our constitutional, fundamental rights protect that. Nothing else," Wallace said at a November 2020 San Angelo COVID update meeting. "I’m sorry if that comes off as blunt and that I don’t care. I do care. I care more about freedom than I do for your personal health."

By late July, Wallace was infected with the coronavirus. According to the San Angelo Standard-Times, he tried to treat himself with ivermectin. Ivermectin is widely available as a deworming agent for livestock, but over the last year has become increasingly popular among fringe groups who distrust doctors and vaccines. The FDA has repeatedly cautioned against self-dosing with the livestock treatment.

"Ivermectin tablets are approved at very specific doses for some parasitic worms, and there are topical (on the skin) formulations for head lice and skin conditions like rosacea," the FDA says on its website. "Ivermectin is not an anti-viral (a drug for treating viruses)."

By early August, Wallace was unconscious and required intensive care at the hospital. His wife Jessica Wallace, who is eight months pregnant, posted frequent updates on his condition on her GoFundMe page. 

"You all have the right to feel the way you feel as Caleb once fought for his beliefs," she wrote on Friday. "He was an imperfect man but he loved his family and his little girls more than anything. 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."

On Saturday, she confirmed that her husband had died. "Caleb has peacefully passed on," she wrote. "He will forever live in our hearts and minds."

Shortly before his death, Jessica Wallace spoke with the San Angelo Standard-Times. She said she believes in wearing 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."