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A newly elected American lawmaker has become the first member of the United States Congress to die from Covid-19.
Luke Letlow, an elected congressman from Louisiana, died of Covid-19 on Wednesday at a hospital in Shreveport, according to state officials.
Letlow, 41, won a second round earlier this month to represent the state’s fifth congressional district, succeeding his former boss, Republican Ralph Abraham, who did not run again after three terms in Congress.
Letlow is the highest-ranking American politician to die from Covid, which has now killed more than 337,000 Americans.
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AP
Republican Luke Letlow was elected Representative from Louisiana’s Fifth District and was due to be sworn in on Monday (NZT).
Letlow announced that he had tested positive for the new coronavirus on December 18, the Monroe News-Star reported, and initially quarantined at his home in Richland Parish in Northeast Louisiana. The next day, he was admitted to hospital with symptoms that worsened and was later transferred to Ochsner LSU Health in Shreveport.
He is survived by two young children and his wife, Julia Barnhill Letlow, the News star reported.
State and national political leaders mourned his death Tuesday night.
“Covid-19 has taken away Congressman-elect Letlow too soon,” Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, said in a statement shared on Twitter.
“I am heartbroken that he will not be able to serve our people as a United States Representative, but I am even more devastated for his loving family.”
Before joining Abraham as his chief of staff, Letlow worked for former Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, a Republican, who praised his “passion for service.”
“I met Luke when he was still a college student, and I spent countless hours with him in his truck driving down the back roads of Louisiana,” Jindal said.
“His passion for service has been a constant throughout his life.”
