Republican official who mocked COVID in final Facebook post dies of virus in Texas
A Texas GOP official whose social media posts include anti-mask and anti-vaccine rhetoric has died from COVID-19.
H. Scott Apley, who according to the Galveston News was a member of the Galveston County Republican Party and Dickinson City council, was 45 years old.
In his last Facebook post July 30, Apley shared a Twitter post mocking COVID-19.
“In 6 months, we’ve gone from the vax ending the pandemic, to you can still get Covid even if vaxxed, to you can pass Covid onto others even if vaxxed, to you can still die of Covid even if vaxxed, to the unvaxxed are killing the vaxxed,” the post read.
Apley was admitted to a Galveston hospital two days after that post with pneumonia-like symptoms, according to a GoFundMe page. He tested positive for COVID-19 and was placed on a ventilator.
He died around 3 a.m. Wednesday, according to the GoFundMe.
His wife and 5-month-old son also tested positive for the virus, KTRK reported.
The Galveston County Republican Party called Apley’s death “a tragedy.” A separate post from Patrick J. McGinnis, the chairman of the county’s Republican Party, said Apley was a hard worker who was “deeply committed to the betterment of his community.”
The Texas Republican Party said in a news release Wednesday it is “incredibly saddened” to learn about Apley’s death.
“The entire staff of the Republican Party of Texas grieves his loss and extends our prayers of peace and comfort for Scott’s family in this difficult time,” the party said.
Neither the local nor statewide Republican Party made reference in their posts to Apley dying from COVID-19.
It is not known if Apley received a COVID-19 vaccine or if he caught the delta variant, which is driving an increase in cases throughout Texas and most of the United States.
In other Facebook posts from Apley, he showed support for mask burning and called incentives to encourage vaccinations “disgusting.”
This story was originally published August 5, 2021 at 6:28 AM with the headline "Republican official who mocked COVID in final Facebook post dies of virus in Texas."