Pressley Stutts, a South Carolina Republican Party leader and fervent supporter of former President Donald Trump, died Thursday morning of COVID-19 weeks after railing against mask mandates.
Stutts, the Greenville County GOP chair, spent nearly a month in the hospital battling the virus, but according to Anderson County GOP’s Dan Harvell, Stutts ultimately succumbed to the virus and lost the battle, The Greenville News reported.
“The COVID has created double pneumonia in my lungs,” Stutts wrote in his final Facebook post. He and his wife were forced to go to the hospital on Aug. 1 when oxygen levels dropped.
Wednesday, his family posted on Stutts’ Facebook page that he was having a hard time fighting the virus.
“Pressley had another rough night in the hospital,” the post said with a meme asking for “Prayers for Pressley” and his photo. “They are adjusting as needed to try to keep his levels stable. Most of the test results are the same (give or take) what they were yesterday.”
Days before being hospitalized, Stutts shared photos of an anti-mask protest and celebrated when the legislature voted against mandating masks, vaccines and testing for state workers.
The report also cited an earlier report that Stutts was a proponent for “freedom and liberty,” and thus believed no one should be forced to wear a mask and get vaccinated.
He also shared a meme saying, “Delta variant is just code for ‘too many of y’all aren’t scared anymore.'”
