Raoult Ratard

Posted: Tuesday, April 14, 2020 6:46 pm | Updated: 7:15 pm, Tue Apr 14, 2020. Raoult Ratard, Louisiana’s state epidemiologist has died at the age of 75. Ratard died Monday, state Department of Health spokesman Kevin Litten said in an email Tuesday. The state did not disclose the cause of death, but Litten said it was not brought about by the new coronavirus. Ratard was fighting Louisiana's outbreak as the state epidemiologist.

Posted: Tuesday, April 14, 2020 4:57 pm | Updated: 5:15 pm, Tue Apr 14, 2020. Raoult Ratard, Louisiana’s state epidemiologist has died at the age of 75. Ratard died Monday, state Department of Health spokesman Kevin Litten said in an email Tuesday. The state did not disclose the cause of death, but Litten said it was not brought about by the new coronavirus. Ratard was fighting Louisiana's outbreak as the state epidemiologist.

Background: On September 13, 2008, Hurricane Ike, a category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph, made landfall near Galveston, Texas. Ike produced a damaging, destructive, and deadly storm surge across the upper Texas and southwestern Louisiana coasts. Thirty-four Texas counties were declared disaster areas by the Federal Emergency Management Agency; 15 counties were under mandatory evacuation orders.