He was 41 years old.
Louisiana Elected Congressman Luke Letlow passed away on Tuesday at COVID-19, according to Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards.
“It is with heavy hearts that Donna and I express our condolences to the family of elected Congressman Luke Letlow on his departure for a fight with COVID-19,” Edwards said in a statement Tuesday night. the elected Congressman Letlow was taken from us far too soon. I’m sad that he will not be able to serve our people as an American representative, but I’m even more devastated about his loving family.
Letlow, 41, was recently elected to represent Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District. He was ready to sit in the House of Representatives Sunday in Louisiana.
Letlow announced on December 18 that he had tested positive for coronavirus and that he would begin following all guidelines for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and coming into quarantine. The elected congressman said on December 21 that he was undergoing treatment in St. Louis. Francis Medical Central in Monroe, Louisiana, for COVID-19.
A representative for Letlow announced on December 23 that the elected Republican congressman from St. Francis is being transferred to the Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport Academic Medical Center in Shreveport, Louisiana, to continue treatment for COVID-19 as his condition worsens.
After the transfer, doctors said the elected congressman was in a stable condition in the intensive care unit and was ‘receiving Remdesivir and steroids as part of his regimental therapy’, according to a statement from Dr GE Ghali, Chancellor of LSU Health Shreveport.
A delegation of lawmakers in Louisiana, including the Whip of the House, Steve Scalise, said they were “crushed” after Letlow’s death.
“He was looking forward to serving the people of Louisiana in Congress, and we were excited to welcome him to our delegation, where he was ready to make a greater impact on our state and our country,” the delegation said. Said in a statement on Tuesday. “More than anything, Luke was a loving husband, father, brother and son, and his family – like so many others affected by this evil disease – needed our prayers.
Letlow is survived by his wife, Julia, and his two young children.
“Elected Congressman Letlow was a ninth-generation Louisianan who fought passionately for his position and dedicated his life to public service,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement. grief is exacerbated by the grief of so many other families who have also suffered lives cut short by this terrible virus. ‘
Louisiana has diagnosed more than 304,000 cases of COVID-19 since the onset of the pandemic, with at least 7,397 deaths, according to a count held by Johns Hopkins University.
ABC News John Parkinson contributed to this report.