FACT CHECK: No, This Image Of A Greg Abbott Campaign Advertisement On The Back Of A Tractor-Trailer Carrying Bodies Is Not Real

Conservative News DailyAugust 27, 2021

An image shared on Facebook over 1,000 times purportedly shows a tractor-trailer with an advertisement for Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on the back being loaded with dead bodies.

Verdict: False

The advertisement was digitally added into the image. The original photo shows the tractor-trailer without any advertisement.

Fact Check:

Abbott, the two-term governor of Texas, is up for reelection in November 2022 and his team has already started campaigning, according to the Texas Tribune. A viral image on Facebook shows text reading “Abbott Governor 2022” on the back of a tractor-trailer being loaded with what appears to be dead bodies.

“Picture of the week from Texas,” reads the photo’s caption. (RELATED: Did Texas Governor Greg Abbott Ban All Travelers Coming Into Texas From Louisiana?)

Refrigerated trucks were occasionally used as temporary morgues during the height of the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S. in 2020, according to USA Today. In one instance, the Federal Emergency Management Agency sent 85 such vehicles to New York City to help store bodies, Fox News reported.

The picture, however, appears to be digitally altered. Through a reverse image search Check Your Fact found the original photo published by Reuters Pictures. There is no Abbott 2022 advertisement visible on the back of the truck in that image. The Abbott advertisement seen in the Facebook photo appears to have been digitally added onto the tractor-trailer.

“El Paso County Medical Examiner’s Office staff help move bodies that are in bags labeled ‘Covid’ from refrigerated trailers into the morgue office amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in El Paso, Texas, U.S. November 23, 2020,” reads the image’s caption on Reuters Pictures.

El Paso experienced a surge in COVID-19 deaths in November 2020 and was forced to call in at least 10 refrigerated trucks to be used as temporary morgues, according to Reuters.