Congressman-elect Luke Letlow dies from COVID-19

WDSU ^ | 12/29/20

[Meatspace]

SHREVEPORT, La. — Congressman-elect Luke Letlow has died after contracting COVID-19 last week, according to his campaign manager Andrew Bautsch.

Letlow, who just turned 41, was getting treatment in the intensive care unit in Shreveport, according to an announcement on his Twitter page last week.

[nascarnation]

I’d think if “they” were really going take somebody out it would be in a closely contested election seat.

This guy won big and a Republican replacement is a lock.

So unless they needed something between the opening of the session and the seating of the new guy, it’s of little consequence. (Rest in peace)

[Eleutheria5]

Stop being so un-paranoid. They stole an election. They have a governor to appoint a replacement.

[gleeaikin]

The problem is that effective early treatment has been suppressed. I found this gem of a site explainig the fight for cheap early treatment. I want to pass this on to as many people as possible, but last evening I skidded on a loose door mat and appear to have either cracked a rib or badly bruised my side and can’t do any more for now. Please pass it on. Thanks.

https://faculty.utrgv.edu/eleftherios.gkioulekas/zelenko/index.html

[Persevero]

Yes. And I’d not be surprised if flus have wiped out a similar number at various times.

That’s not “ok” with me, it’s just a fact of life. We all die of something and most of us die in nursing homes these days it might seem. Heart issues, dementia, sepsis, opportunistic infections. There is only so much we can do.

This lockdown has made me reconsider my attitude towards nursing homes. I used to be open to living in one should the need arise, and have reassured my kids that it’s ok if it does. But now that I see all these folks forced to die alone I have changed my mind.

My opinion is that a patient in a convalescent situation if demented should have a conservator decide for him - and if not demented should decide for himself - whether they’d like to be isolated or not.

Myself I’d want to see the family regularly and am ok with the risk.

[gleeaikin]

Pnly one? Pelosi is not very efficient then.

[Persevero]

I am not in medicine but I suspect that the very healthy are at risk due to cytokines storm. And the very unhealthy due to their comorbidities.

May your brother rest in peace

[gleeaikin]

I agree. When all major stores had masked employees and required masked customers, Northern VA was often failing in that regard. During my visits to Chincoteague, VA, public masking in stores is carefully followed. The chicken factory workers in Delmarva have suffered.

[gleeaikin]

Some will be confused when you shift from counties to states. As I understand it you are using deaths per million for both counties and states.

[rlmorel]

I have specific issues with these statements, apart from your statistical analysis which is unsupported.

1. Covid19 is a hoax, or it is exaggerated, or it is not materially worse than Influenza
   • The VAST majority of people who are self-described conservatives do not see the very existence of COVID-19 as a "hoax". The number of conservatives who characterize the very existence of the virus as a "hoax" are vanishingly small in the total, are not serious commentators, and are generally treated as such by other conservatives.
   • The fact that we have put millions of Americans out of work and destroyed hundreds of thousands of businesses and bankrupted our country over a virus that has roughly a 2% mortality rate which is unequally distributed across the population is prima facie proof that it is exaggerated. That you think this does not constitute an exaggeration is revealing.
   • That the pathogen is a percentage point or so more deadly than an average influenza and is more contagious is far, FAR less egregious and irresponsible than destroying livelihoods and our national economy by treating it as if it had the mortality rate of an exceedingly deadly pathogen such as Buobonic Plague.

2. Asking citizens to wear masks, or to socially distance, or to close down businesses is an unnecessary infringement of liberties.
   • I would ask if you were really serious on this statement, but I understand you are quite sincere. To say that forcing someone to CLOSE and LOSE their business, someone who has invested their life savings and all of their time and energy to build it up and run it, to create a reputation and a stable presence, someone who has poured their LIFE and their DREAMS into a business, to say that IS NOT an unnecessary infringement on liberties is appalling. I expect to hear that kind of statement from the likes of Leftist politicians who have never created wealth or met a payroll, but I do not expect to hear it from someone who professes to be a conservative.

   Conservatives understand that this shotgun approach, quarantining everyone, shutting down businesses, mandating social distancing and wearing of masks (if you don't think that mandate is coming or being used as a threat, you haven't been paying attention) is not only unconstitutional but is flat out wrong, and is going to cause damage more far reaching and devastating than any damage this virus is going to exact in human terms in the short term.

   Real conservatives support measures that protect those at highest risk while allowing those at lowest risk to go to school, have a business, and engage in activities with other people. They support the right of people to protect themselves if they feel the need to do so.

[gleeaikin]

Did you also give your friend zinc, or was BHT the only virus killer you gave her? Remember, you can find a lot of treatment and dose information here.

https://faculty.utrgv.edu/eleftherios.gkioulekas/zelenko/index.html

[gleeaikin]

The governor cannot appoint the replacement. There has to be a special election.

[rlmorel]

It does appear to me that there are potential therapies that may improve outcomes that have been suppressed for reasons I don’t quite fathom in a non-conspiratorial mindset.

Use of off-label pharmaceuticals is something to be done with due consideration, but with the hullaballoo surrounding this pandemic, usage of various pharmaceuticals to improve outcomes makes sense, and the rabid dismissal of them does not, especially when some of those pharmaceuticals have a long record of safe usage, particularly in the age groups most vulnerable.

I find the outright rejection of this approach by some political, industrial, and medical entities to be puzzling and even alarming.

[LeonardFMason]

YOU said there are “PLENTY” of young people dying and cite a FEW cases that you “heard” about.

I ask for some DATA and you tell me to get over myself and look it up myself.

How long have you been a Liberal Democrat? I ask because you come off like your typical opinionated know-it-all Leftist. Why are you trolling a Conservative site?

[gleeaikin]

That link I gave has answers in it, The fact is that Dr. Zelenko’s treatment medications for early Covid cost about $20. Gilead Sciences Remdesivier, in which Dr. Fauci has a financial interest, is reported to cost insurance providers around 3,000 per treatment course.

[nascarnation]

Yes I assume the special election will be in March.
So from the start of the Congress term until then there will be no Congressman for that district.

[dadfly]

first: why is this breaking news?

and 2nd, i’ve read reports that he apparently died of a heart-attack following an operation. he just happened to be quarantining for the wuhan virus at the time.

[God_Country_Trump_Guns]

My data source is:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us

It is both FALSE and also MISLEADING to say the pathogen is about 1% more deadly than influenza.

It is FALSE, because we have not been losing 150K lives per year to influenza.

It is MISLEADING, because (a) one percentage point translates to a DOUBLING of fatality rates, and (b) we have been keeping the fatality rates at 2% by filling all our hospitals and our ICUs, and by building makeshift ICU rooms in parking lot tents, and by cancelling all elective surgeries.

There are invisible costs as well. Full hospitals means care is not provided to some patients. It also means front line healthcare providers feel insulted and belittled.

Two of my cousins and three of my close friends are MDs. One friend has no hospital privileges and is in private practice. The other friends and family members recount identical stories: hospitals are full. ICU beds are nearly full. Elective surgeries are being cancelled. Healthcare providers are overworked, stretched to the limit, and frustrated.

All this, for what? So that some fellow conservatives are not inconvenienced by wearing a mask?

I also reject the premise that small businesses will necessarily be bankrupted. Government can step in and provide a lifeline.

But we cannot have a solution if we do not recognize a problem exists.

I’ve debated fellow conservatives who argue “I don’t are about the facts, my mind is made up” or “live free or die.” I find it irrational and counterproductive.

[Jamestown1630]

Among other things it doesn’t yet know, medical science doesn’t know everything about the immune system as it varies among individuals.

[Nero Germanicus]

Medical science knows that.

[Pikachu_Dad]

Dang, if you are just going to roll over and die everytime there is some bad news... then please go play over at the democrat underground.

They need some ‘cheerful’ Eeyores like you.