Huffpost
By Mary Papenfuss
“I hope to live a long time. I have a lot of things I want to do and experience with my wife and my friends and my family,” H. Scott Apley wrote last month.
A Texas Republican leader who was hospitalized earlier this week with COVID-19 has died just days after he posted an anti-vaccination message — and previously shared an image touting a “mask burning” event.
H. Scott Apley, 45, a member of the State Republican Executive Committee and Dickinson City Council, died Wednesday, the Galveston County Republican Party announced in a Facebook post with an “extremely heavy heart.”
The post didn’t mention the cause of death. But Apley was admitted to a local hospital last Sunday with “pneumonia-like symptoms and tested positive for COVID,” and was placed on a ventilator, according to a GoFundMe page set up for his family.
Apley’s widow, Melissa, also tested positive for the coronavirus but has not been hospitalized, according to the GoFundMe page. They recently had a baby son, Reid.
“A tragedy,” the GOP Facebook post read. ” Please pray for Melissa and Reid and their family. God remains in control, although this is yet another tough one to swallow.”
The Texas Republican Party issued a statement saying members were “incredibly saddened” to learn of Apley’s death.
A week ago Apley had reposted a mocking commentary about the changing COVID-19 vaccination situation, noting that in six months the nation had gone from “the vax ending the pandemic to … you can still die of COVID if you get vaxxed … to the unvaxxed are killing the vaxxed.”
“Better get the jab,” one person responded.
Another responded after …
