Louisiana’s elected Republican deputy, Luke Letlow, died of a heart attack following a COVID-19 procedure, according to the chancellor of the hospital where he was admitted.
LSU Health Shreveport Chancellor GE Ghali told the Monroe News-Star that Letlow, 41, suffered a heart attack after a virus-related hospital procedure.
“It is devastating for our entire team,” Ghali told the channel, adding that Letlow had no underlying conditions.
“It was just COVID,” said the chancellor.
LSU Health forwarded Fox News to Letlow family spokesman Andrew Bautsch, who did not immediately respond to a request for more information.
LUKE LETLOW, 41 YEARS OF ELECTED CONGRESS, DIES WITH COVID-19
Eight out of 10 COVID-19 deaths in the United States occurred in adults 65 and older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Adults between 40 and 49 years old are three times more likely to be hospitalized and 10 times more likely to die from the virus than a comparison group of adults between 18 and 29 years old.
A July study published in MedRxiv found that the infection mortality rate (IFR) increased from 0.01% among adults aged 25 to 0.4% at 55, 1.4% at 65, 4.6% at 75 and 15% at 85 Certain underlying medical conditions, however, can worsen cases of COVID-19.
It is still unclear why some young, healthy individuals experience severe symptoms and, occasionally, death. Experts have suggested that a healthy person’s genetic makeup may influence how individual bodies respond to the virus.
LUKE LETLOW: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE END OF THE ELECTED CONGRESS
Dr. Oscar Mitchell, a pulmonary medicine and intensive care researcher at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, found that the survival rate among COVID-19 patients who suffered heart attacks during treatment for COVID-19 remains very low, but is close to the survival rate for pre-pandemic patients who had heart attacks during procedures, according to a press release in November.
“… Patients have a survival rate similar to before the pandemic,” said Dr. Benjamin Abella, one of the study’s senior researchers, in a statement. “This demonstrates that our regular means of treating hospital cardiac arrest can still be effective in patients with COVID-19 and we must consider it as eminently survivable.”
The CDC recommends that people wear masks while they are around other people, wash their hands frequently, stay socially away from others, keep their hands away from their faces and disinfect surfaces to prevent contraction of COVID-19.
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Letlow’s friend and former campaign president described the new congressman as “a true servant” in an interview with News-Star.
“American politics is dominated by people who are always looking for attention; Luke doesn’t care who gets the credit, ”said Franklin during the campaign. “This is the mark of a true leader; a true servant.”