Rep. Ron Wright’s Tweets About COVID-19 Resurface After His Death

wright4congress/Instagram

February 9, 2021, 7:27 am

On Monday, news broke that Republican representative Ron Wright of Texas died at age 67, two weeks after testing positive for COVID-19.

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Wright is the first Congressman to die of the virus, although a Louisiana man who had recently been elected to the House of Representatives in November died before he could be sworn in.

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Like many other Republican politicians, Wright repeatedly insisted that it was safe enough for closed businesses and schools to open up, even while the number of new cases in the United States was still on the rise.

In the wake of his death, people are sharing those comments, trying desperately to get through to people that this pandemic isn’t a joke, isn’t a hoax, and is still something that’s claiming lives every day.

“If it’s safe enough to shop at Walmart and Target, it’s safe enough to shop at local businesses and eat at restaurants,” a December tweet from Wright reads.

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And even when he was in the hospital dying, his social media team was holding the party line.

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Another Republican representative from Texas, Chip Roy, has already gone on Fox News to blast “the left” for “politicizing” Wright’s death.

Apparently simply saying someone died of COVID-19 is “politicizing” it now. Roy also seemingly tried to blame his colleague’s death on his battle with cancer rather than the deadly virus that doctors have said is responsible.

There’s no scenario in which anything related to the virus should be politicized, but unfortunately, that’s a bridge we crossed very early on, when so many Republican politicians came out against shutting down businesses and wearing masks to keep everyone safe.

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Sad. If facts and scientific information had not become politicized and been rejected by Republicans for purely political reasons, he might still be alive.

Rep. Ron Wright Is 1st Member Of Congress To Die After Coronavirus Diagnosis https://t.co/wfjrLqIHCJ

— Christopher McGreger (@crassbrauer) February 9, 2021

Texas congressman Ron Wright of has died after contracting COVID-19. He was a Republican, a member of the anti-mask, anti-lockdown party.

How many Americans have died / will die because the GOP followed Trump and politicized our pandemic response?

— Good Grief! (@natespuewell) February 8, 2021

BREAKING: Republican Rep. Ron Wright of Texas has died of pure ignorance after promoting maskless-ness during the coronavirus pandemic. Despite being diagnosed with lung cancer in 2018 he persisted, along with his party, in negatively politicizing mask wearing.

There. Fixed it. https://t.co/UKSKawi6rd

— Certain To Have A Typo In My Tweet (@jkyle001) February 8, 2021

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Rep. Ron Wright died of COVID. He was a Republican. He supported Trump. He thought politicizing an epidemiological situation was appropriate message for the country’s citizenship. He paid his ignorance & fanaticism w/ his life. Sorry if I’m not sad. Most GOPers have same attitude

— Leo ElLeon (@LeoElLeon11) February 8, 2021

It’s unfortunate Wright died from the virus—especially after fighting cancer for several years—but it would be nice if something like this served as a wake-up call, a full year after the pandemic began, for everyone in the United States to finally take it seriously.

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*First Published: February 9, 2021, 7:27 am