BATON ROUGE - Two Louisiana Economic Development employees who recently traveled to Japan are healthy enough for work, the state said in response to questions about the employees' status after a recent business trip.

The employees were not identified. 

The LED is the state's business development unit and works to promote business expansion in Louisiana.

The two employees were scheduled to be in Korea but their travel plans were changed amid the COVID-19 outbreak in parts of Asia.  The state said it met with the health department and determined the employees were okay to report back to work.

“After discussing with LDH, we have determined that two LED employees who traveled on a business mission internationally are okay to come to work according to current CDC guidance," the governor's spokesperson, Shauna Sanford, said in a statement provided to WBRZ Tuesday.

"Though their travel originally meant for them to be in Korea, they changed their plan because of COVID-19 and only went to Japan. Both currently have no symptoms but are closely monitoring to determine whether there are changes," she said.

Japan is a so-called level two country, indicating limited community spread of the virus.  Travelers returning from a level two travel advisory country with no direct contacts with individuals with coronavirus are advised to monitor for symptoms such as fever and cough, but they are not being restricted from returning to work, Sanford added.

The employees returned to Louisiana Sunday.

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