BATON ROUGE - Louisiana congressman-elect Luke Letlow has reportedly died after a week of being in the ICU battling the coronavirus.

Louisiana’s newest member of Congress was transferred to ICU amid his ongoing hospital treatment for COVID-19 shortly before Christmas, his office announced on social media.

Republican Rep.-elect Luke Letlow was admitted to the hospital days earlier as a precaution, spokesman Andrew Bautsch, said at the time. 

Letlow was transferred from a Monroe hospital to one in Shreveport for ICU treatments of Remdesivir and steroids, doctors said.

According to Shreveport journalist Greg Hilburn, Letlow later died in the Shreveport hospital, despite a statement released on Dec. 24 addressing his stable condition.

Letlow, who is from the northeast Louisiana town of Start, was elected earlier this month to the 5th District seat representing northeast and central Louisiana and parts of the Florida Parishes. He is scheduled to be sworn in next month.

He had announced on December 18 that he had been infected by the coronavirus and was quarantined at home.

Letlow is survived by his wife, Julia Barnhill Letlow, and two young children. 

Governor John Bel Edwards issued the following statement regarding Letlow's passing:

“It is with heavy hearts that Donna and I offer our condolences to Congressman-elect Luke Letlow’s family on his passing after a battle with COVID-19. Congressman-elect Letlow felt a calling from a young age to serve the people of his home state, working behind the scenes for former Governor Bobby Jindal and serving as chief of staff to Congressman Ralph Abraham, who he was recently elected to succeed. COVID-19 has taken Congressman-elect Letlow from us far too soon. I am heartbroken that he will not be able to serve our people as a U.S. Representative, but I am even more devastated for his loving family. I hope all of the people of Louisiana will join Donna and me in praying for Congressman-elect Letlow’s family, especially his wife Julia and their two children, his many friends and the people of the 5th Congressional District. Louisiana has lost more than 7,300 people to COVID-19 since March, and each one of them leaves a tremendous hole in our state.”