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.