Congressman Luke Letlow, 41, died tonight at Shreveport Medical Center in Ochsner-LSU from complications of COVID-19, wrote Letlow spokesperson Andrew Bauch in a post on the Republican Congressman-electable Facebook page.
The Letlow family thanks everyone for their prayers and support over the past few days, but asks that privacy be respected in these difficult and unexpected times.
Letlow announced his diagnosis on his Facebook page on December 18 and wrote that he was resting at home, following all CDC recommendations, quarantine protocols and my doctors’ recommendations.
A few days later, Letlow reported that he was being treated at St. Michael’s Hospital. Francis of Monroe, and the 23rd. In December, his office reported that he had been transferred to the MSU Ochsner Heath Shreveport University Medical Center.
Dr. G.E. Gali, Chancellor of Health for LSU Shreveport, stated at the time that Letlow’s condition was stable in the intensive care unit and that he was taking remdesivir and steroids as part of his treatment.
The news of Letlow’s death was immediately greeted with a wave of support from the elected MP’s family.
Luke Letlow is now with our Creator, but his untimely departure from this world is a great loss to Louisiana and America. Just a few weeks ago, voters overwhelmingly elected Luke to represent them in Congress, and tweeted Congressman Garret Graves, a Louisiana Republican.
They saw what many of us know about Luke – friendly, smart, fast, God-fearing, hard-working, honest, and just a good guy.
This thought was expressed by the mayor of New Orleans, LaToya Cantrell, a Democrat, in a tweet: We are broken by the death of Congressman Luke Letlow.
He was a promising young leader who loved Louisiana. Our prayers go out to his family and loved ones.
Louisiana Senator John Kennedy also twittered that he’d been broken by the news.
For years, Luke worked tirelessly in Los Angeles. Plus, Luke was a loving husband and father, according to Kennedy. Pray with us for the Letlow family in this time of incredible loss.
The Louisiana Republican Party also praised Mr. Letlow in a statement Tuesday night, calling him a rising political star and a good friend.
The Democratic Governor of Louisiana, John Bel Edwards, has ordered the state flags to be flown at half-moon on the day of Letlow’s funeral.
According to the state law of Louisiana, there will now be a special election to elect a person to represent the 5th district. The congressional district that represented the state of Letlow in a run-off election earlier this month accounted for 62 percent of the vote. The district is largely Republican and covers a large part of Eastern Louisiana.
December is already the deadliest month since the start of the pandemic.
The United States reported 124,686 coronavirus patients in hospitals Tuesday, the highest number reported in a single day during the pandemic, according to the Covid tracking project.
The percentage of patients in intensive care with coronavirus also rose from 16 percent in September to 40 percent last week, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
This story has been updated with additional feedback and reports on the Let’s Pass website.
Ellie Gordon of CNN contributed to this report.
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